Month: September 2019

Sticking to a healthy diet: The challenges

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Currently reading the compound effect by Darren Hardy. In this book, it says a positive environment carries a powerful impact in ensuring the successful implantation of good habits. The right environment can be the difference between success and failure.

“So many times we set goals but we forget to take into consideration those stumbling blocks be it people or situations that can derail us…”

In other words, when you’re trying to implement a new behavior, you must put your environment to work for you. I thought about that and realized this is something I don’t always take into account when making grand plans. For example, dear husband and myself are trying to keep a healthy diet by eating good nourishing food most of the time. Sometimes we succeed, sometimes we don’t. But I have noticed that some environment (like watching TV late at night) may not be helping. Every single time we went off track, it was while watching TV late at night, especially Friday evenings, etc.).  There’s also something to be said for bad company but since I obviously can’t get rid of dear husband (not sure I want to go back to the dating scene again…) I feel pressed to figure out other ways to stay on track. So, below are a couple of steps I am thinking on implementing. It would take some practice but I believe they could help steer the boat in the right direction.

“When dieting, the very idea of cheat days is problematic. It’s like cheating to keep your marriage interesting…. Not the best strategy. “

The first thing would be to eliminate TV time during weekdays. In a fit of transparency, I feel obligated to mention that most of the times, I am only awake for 30 minutes max🙄, favorite TV shows or not… so, I can’t logically cut out TV time when I am sleeping through it😴🤤. Dear husband is a patient man but there are limits. Consequently, I must find a solution that won’t make me look bad. As a Libra, I am all about finding solutions that make me look good, even if they’re bad😜.

The second thing would be to plan ahead which means plan our weekly menu ahead of time and making sure the fridge is stuffed with healthy options. Also, it would be a good thing to plan our treat days days ahead and find delicious alternative to add to our cheat day menu! I know some people are against cheat days and with good reason. Some people can cheat and keep it classy but some go hog wild🤣

When dieting, the very idea of cheat days is problematic. It’s like cheating to keep your marriage interesting…. Not the best strategy. No good can come out of it and it always backfires.

So in that spirit, we decided that on Fridays, instead of ordering out we’d get back to making our own treats which are way more delicious and cost way less. Of course, that won’t stop us from overeating but at least we take pride in our willingness to experiment and see what work😏. 

If I am being honest, number two is a lot more realistic for us right now so we’ll try and stick to it as best we can and give it time.

What about you, dear readers? Do you have any strategies for implementing new habits or sticking to good one? Please do share!

A perfect wedding anniversary at Hogan and Beaufort

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August the 20th was our wedding anniversary!!! It’s already been 3 years since we’ve been married. How time flies.

In fact, you can read all about our first date HERE .

Looking back it’s still the best decision I’ve ever made. Some things never change though like me hating surprises and dear husband insisting on surprising me🙄(no, I am not an ungrateful little person. Well, maybe?). So, like I was saying: I hate surprises with a passion. Particularly on special occasions and hubby knows this but still, he keeps on trying. I want to know in advance so I can plan my bragging, makeup, outifts, photoshoots and such. So, a week before our wedding anniversary, I casually asked him about planning something. He acted vague and uninterested which immediately tipped me off. Naturally, I spent that week casually dropping hint left and right. On the Jour J, the minute our car turned into a certain street I just knew we were going back to Hogan and Beaufort.

To tell you the truth, the last time we went there we were kindly gifted a 100 dollars gift certificate by a precious friend of ours and even with that factored in, we almost had a heart attack when the bill came. Dear husband in particular, considering the poor man was the one footing the bill at the time. Of course, I was equally shocked but a more moderate version of shock….like, you know, the shock of someone who’s not expected to foot the bill. So here we go.

First the entree: It was called something, something carrot (I am clearly not a food critic). With such portioning, I wouldn’t be surprised if a pack of carrot last them an entire season. As you can see, a glouton like myself is clearly not ready for high-class dining. We were explained in great details by the server that the carrot used in that dish comes from a long line of well-behaved carrot grown with great care and utmost attention. It’s like each plate came with a resume. After the server’s intro, I felt very proud and chosen to find myself in front of a carrot with such a distinguished pedigree.

“As usual, the entrée was so small, it looked like a portion you’d give someone who just underwent gastric bypass surgery.”

Then came “Le plat de resistance” and I am sad to say we demolished it like two walking deads feasting on animal remains. I am also very proud to say we took nice pics before digging in so we’re not complete savages.

Before..
After…

We ordered a side of pasta (forgot what kind they were) and I kid you not, there were 4 little pastas in the entire dish. One could easily have mistaken them for big worms.

The last time we ordered dessert, but this time we didn’t. Instead we finished the night with two pieces of cake from Rockaberry a place specialized in cheese cake of all sorts and solely responsible for most of my weight gain of the past few months😔. And then we continued watching Grimm on Netflix. A truly perfect wedding anniversary💕.

Thank you for passing by and Bisous 💋!