Cravable Routine

Routine. Ain’t it grand! Yes I know that “ain’t” isn’t proper, but that’s just the kind of grand I was going for! Google defines routine as: an unvarying or habitual method or procedure. At one point in my life I would say this didn’t apply. While I’ve always been a planner I haven’t always fallen into a routine. In other words, I love knowing when something is supposed to happen; I just don’t necessarily like it to be repetitive. But, as is the case with most things in life, it changed. I crave my daily routine-well my morning and nightly routine anyway. As I’ve mentioned, the last 3 and a half weeks haven’t been exactly “normal” for me. I just graduated and I haven’t started work yet so there have been many hours of just sitting at home twiddling my thumbs. That I do not crave. The routine I crave is when my husband gets home. Since November of 2007, like our wedding day was some kind of magical switch or something, we have become very predictable people. He gets home from work, we either eat dinner or workout (the order varies), we shower, we watch Netflix, we play with Jake, and we cuddle in bed. Sleep, repeat! While this may not sound glamorous to any of the rest of you, it’s what I crave. Being on the road and away from home only makes that feeling worse. Any of you with me?

Another area of routine I’ve come to “crave” in my life is with food. When it comes to food, however, I don’t mean repetitive at all. How many of you eat the same things over and over again because you know the “values” for those foods/meals and you know that you’ve seen success when eating those foods? Do you ever shake it up? I am not a person that loves eating leftovers; it’s one of my least favorite things in existence. That doesn’t mean I won’t eat the same things. In fact, when I discover something that is super tasty and delicious, I’ll have it several days in a row. Especially because I’ve already figured out the points and it’s convenient, but also because I know I love it. Reference my Greek Yogurt with berries and oatmeal meals! But I do that by choice. The thing with leftovers is that I no longer have a choice. They just stare me down every time I open the fridge daring me to eat anything else. When I lose my “choice” with food, that’s when I no longer desire to have it. What I mean by routine here is the control and predictability that comes with a routine. I like knowing that I can eat whatever I want because it’s at my house, I bought it, I know what’s available, and I’ve provided myself with the best possible choices for success. Again, being on the road with my mom the last few days brought this into perspective as well. I guess what I’ve noticed is that I like control. I’m sure you’d all agree that control is an area of life where I do very well-maybe a little too well, in my husband’s mind.

Do any of you have a certain area of your life where you crave routine? When you get out of your routine do you struggle? I do. In fact, prior to leaving for North Carolina, Michael and I were doing so well with our Power 90 workouts. We were chugging right along. When I left for NC I took my computer, I took weights, and I took the intention of doing my workouts. In fact, I did Saturday’s workout at 1:00 AM after everyone else in the house had gone to bed. Why so late, well you know sisters and their gossip! But Sunday and Monday’s workout got pushed to the back burner as we were out late and were just exhausted. Tuesday and Wednesday’s workouts just got lost in the long hours of Michael’s day. Our intentions are good. We talk about it. But when Michael gets home at 10 PM after working ALL day a workout is the last thing on his mind. What happened to my routine? So I’ve decided that on days I know he’s working late and the likelihood of him doing a workout is slim-to-none I have to just step up and do the workout on my own. It won’t kill me, right? Today I’ve scheduled to meet a friend to go on a walk. That’s a plus. What do you do on days you know your “routine” is going to be interrupted? How do you stay focused?

Since returning home I feel like things have just sort of fallen back into place. I made my weekly trip to the grocery store yesterday-BIG sigh of relief! I cleaned the house-HUGE sigh of relief! I started blogging again-HUGE sigh of motivation! I got to cuddle with my husband last night-GINORMOUS sigh of relief! Things are just right in my world! Until tomorrow, wishing you all: good eats!

Monday’s Food Breakdown:

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, from here on out the breakdown is just in WW points but I’m more than happy to give you the caloric breakdown of something if you just ask.

Breakfast was super delicious yesterday. I took the oatmeal idea from NC and got a little more creative. I still had my blueberries (a berry I discovered I liked eat outside bagels and muffins this weekend) and banana (0 points), I even had my 1 T of walnuts (1 point), but I added 1 T of chocolate chips (2 points). So with my 2 packets of oatmeal (Quaker Instant: Plain) being 5 points that was an 8 point breakfast and SUPER yummy!

Lunch was a bit of desperation. There wasn’t very much in my house around lunch time because I hadn’t made my trip to the grocery store yet. I wasn’t super hungry (my oatmeal was still hanging around-it was super filling) so I opted for 2 servings of ritz crackers and some block cheese. The crackers were 8 points and the cheese 4 for a total of 12 points.

Dinner was supposed to be a Vietnamese Soup dish I was going to attempt to make for the first time but I got a phone call from the hubby letting me know he wouldn’t be home until rather late so I opted to just use the sushi I picked up from H-Mart (an Asian grocery store by our home that we just discovered) yesterday while grocery shopping. It had crab, cucumber, carrot, radish, and pork. It was really quite tasty. I had 12 pieces for 6 points. I then added a bowl of my mixed berries and yogurt blend for 1 point and then added 1 T of chocolate chips for a bit of a twist (can anyone tell that next week is going to be that “fun” week with all the chocolate I’m adding this week-oh the joys of being a woman) for a total of 3 points.

When Michael got home I sat down with him and had 2 more pieces of sushi and 2 T of chocolate chips for a total of 5 of my extra points.