Bagels and Bike Trails

Saturdays are for bagels and bike trails!

A couple Saturdays ago, we went out to brunch at the bagel shop and then went to a bike trail right afterward. Toward the end of last week, my girls asked if we could do it all over again! My heart was so happy because this is the kind of stuff I love to do! I love to be in nature with them.

Piper initially asked if we could go biking again, and then Laney, my 5 year old, asked “can we go to the bagel trail?” It’s not really called the “bagel trail” but we might need to call it that from here on out. So cute!

Everyone agreed that we love Saturday mornings at the bagel shop and exploring the bike trails together. So, we’re going to do that as often as we can! Here’s a little glimpse into how it went.

The bagel trail and our Saturday routine with the family has been a great source of joy lately! It’s so nice to be active with the entire family and spending time in nature together.

Spring Challenge: Week 5 Update

It’s challenge update time! Let’s get right into it!

Spring Challenge Tasks 

Drink 90-120 oz of water daily

• Sunday: 60 oz
• Monday: 60 oz
• Tuesday: 90 oz
• Wednesday: 60 oz
• Thursday: 90 oz
• Friday: 60 oz
• Saturday: 60 oz

Walk for 30-60 minutes/week

• Sunday: —
• Monday: —
• Tuesday: —
• Wednesday: —
• Thursday: 30 minutes
• Friday: —
• Saturday: —

Track nutrition daily + stay within calorie range 5/7 days each week (1,650 - 1,850 calories)

• Sunday: —
• Monday: 1,812 calories
• Tuesday: 1,760 calories
• Wednesday: 1,870 calories
• Thursday: 1,560 calories
• Friday: —
• Saturday: —

Blog weekly challenge updates

• 5/5 weeks done with this update!

Weight-Loss Goal:

My realistic and main goal is to lose about 6 pounds during this challenge. My “shoot for the moon” goal is to lose 10 - 15 pounds!

10 Weeks | March 21 - May 30

• Starting: 216 lbs
• Week 1: 215 lbs (-1 lb)
• Week 2: —
• Week 3: 218 lbs (+3 lb)
• Week 4: 217 lbs (-1 lb)
• Week 5: 216 lbs (-1 lb)
• Week 6:
• Week 7:
• Week 8:
• Week 9:
• Week 10:
• Goal weight: 210 lbs - 201 lbs

Finally back to where I started this challenge! After another rough week (you can check out what I mean in my last post) I’m just glad to be here. Let’s keep going!

Let Me Tell You About Dorothy

Thank God it’s Friday! This week has been rough for a number of reasons. This week has also gone really well for a number of reasons. I think I just need to process through some of the hard stuff so I can begin to move on.

As you may know, we own chickens. We have 10 hens and we love them very much. I know that since we have 10 hens, we will also need to say goodbye to each of them in some way, someday. That doesn’t make the “someday” any easier, though.

Let me tell you about Dorothy, our Rhode Island Red hen. She’s about 3 years old, and she’s such a sweetheart. At the time of writing this post, she is still with us, but I don’t believe she will be with us much longer.

We raised Dory from a chick. We used to hold all of her in one  hand. She used to nestle in and sleep there. Raising chicks is a beautiful gift.

Dory is known to wander from the flock. She’s usually one of the last ones we’d gather up from the yard. She’s special. They all are to us.

A few days ago, we noticed that Dory was showing signs of being egg bound. I won’t get into the mess of it all, and it was a mess. 

At a certain point we understood that it was time to separate her from the flock, and focus on making her comfortable as she either healed or passed. There’s a hopeful part of me that believes she might recover, and there’s a part of me that believes she could go at anytime.

For survivals sake, chickens tend not to show how ill or wounded they are and so it can be hard to tell. Either way, we have been giving her extra care, extra time, and extra love. We plan to do that as best as we can until we can’t anymore.

Revisiting My Why

I’m noticing that I have lost a bit of the vision of why I’m trying to lose weight. I imagine this will happen from time to time. Losing vision wasn’t an “all of a sudden” thing and it’s not even like I’ve completely lost sight of it. I can just tell that it’s slipping beyond my focus point, and so I want to revisit my “why”.

I’m trying to lose weight to gain health. I want to maintain and gain mobility as I age. I want to be a good steward of this gift of health. When I think of losing weight for these reasons, I feel motivated and inspired to keep going!

Tuesday Feels Like Monday

Happy Tuesday! Today kind of feels like my Monday. That’s because my Monday wasn’t very typical for me.

Monday started out with a coffee date with my husband. We dropped the kids off at school, and went to the coffee shop first thing. We made a list of the things that will need done around the house this Spring. It was nice to make the list together, and have a plan for moving forward.

Nick took the day off from work because we had an insurance agent coming to assess some damage to our roof. After that was done, it was time to pick up Laney from preschool. We stayed a bit after to meet with her teacher and got a wonderful report that Laney is ready for Kindergarten in the Fall!

After that, we all grabbed lunch together on our way to a vision appointment for Laney. It was a pretty busy day!

After the appointment we went to a chocolate shop for a fun treat, and then we drove around the lake.

When we got home, I did some work remotely from home. Then made burrito bowls for dinner!

Later on, I was hungry for a snack so I made melted cheese and pepperoni rolls.

Before bed, I had some popcorn and a Coke Zero. I ended the day with about 1,810 calories. It was a good day!

Spring Challenge: Week 4 Update

Week 4 was kind of a blur. Let’s cut right to the stats and then I’ll talk about it.

Spring Challenge Tasks 

Drink 90-120 oz of water daily

• Sunday: 60 oz
• Monday: 90 oz
• Tuesday: 60 oz
• Wednesday: 60 oz
• Thursday: 60 oz
• Friday: 90 oz
• Saturday: 90 oz

Walk for 30-60 minutes/week

• Sunday: —
• Monday: 15 minutes
• Tuesday: —
• Wednesday: —
• Thursday: —
• Friday: —
• Saturday: —

Track nutrition daily + stay within calorie range 5/7 days each week (1,650 - 1,850 calories)

• Sunday: —
• Monday: 1,665 calories
• Tuesday: —
• Wednesday: —
• Thursday: —
• Friday: —
• Saturday: —

Blog weekly challenge updates

• 4/4 weeks done with this update!

Weight-Loss Goal:

My realistic and main goal is to lose about 6 pounds during this challenge. My “shoot for the moon” goal is to lose 10 - 15 pounds!

10 Weeks | March 21 - May 30

• Starting: 216 lbs
• Week 1: 215 lbs (-1 lb)
• Week 2: —
• Week 3: 218 lbs (+3 lb)
• Week 4: 217 lbs (-1 lb)
• Week 5:
• Week 6:
• Week 7:
• Week 8:
• Week 9:
• Week 10:
• Goal weight: 210 lbs - 201 lbs

Due to some vacation weight, and not staying back on track this past week, I am still up a pound more than when I started the challenge. Goods news is that I am down a pound from last week, so I’ll call it a win!

I wasn’t feeling too well for a portion of week 4. I honestly ran most of the week on autopilot. With that said, I’m happy that I still had a loss on the scale!

I was feeling a little discouraged about my lack of progress when writing this post. This is the important part. This is when I need to just keep going! 

Even though I am still not down to where I was before vacation, and even though I’m already 4 weeks into this challenge (without much to show for it as far as the scale is concerned), I need not give up. This is where the progress happens! 

Just keep going!

It’s Friday! What a week!

Oh, what a week! There were some highs and lows. The lows really took me out. Even still, God has been gracious to me and He has been with me through it all.

I wasn’t feeling well most of this week, and because of that I haven’t been tracking my food intake. I’ve just been eating intuitively. This is the long-term goal, and I feel like I did pretty well with it, even though it wasn’t the plan for this week.

I do feel a little discouraged because I didn’t go as hard this week with my goals as I wanted to, but I still gave each day as much as I had to give. Some days that wasn’t a whole lot. That’s okay.

There’s a part of me that wants to wallow and linger here, but I can’t. I won’t. I know it won’t serve me well to stick here in this place. 

Making a good choice (to move forward), will make me feel good. Good choices, feel good. 

Today, making a good choice looks like going for an afternoon walk while the weather is nice. It looks like eating a lean protein and vegetables for lunch. Making a good choice looks like taking a moment to process how hard this week was, and deciding to let it go and move forward.

Let’s keep going!

Full Day of Eats: Full Chocolate Bar Kind of Night

It’s another full day of eats post. This one was from Friday last week!

I started out the day with a premier protein while I worked for a bit from home.

I took Laney out for lunch and we got a couple Timbits afterward.

Of course, my afternoon included an oatmilk latte.

For dinner, we had homemade Crunchwrap supremes.

I had a late afternoon doctor’s appointment scheduled, and TMI - I had my first mammogram. Let’s just say it was a “full chocolate bar” kind of night after that experience.

All in all, I ate about 1,800 calories for the day and I was completely satisfied.

Full Day of Eats: The Bees Knees

The morning started with a cup of coffee in my “you are the bees knees” mug. Piper and Laney got this for me for Christmas and I just love it!

I had an early lunch of my leftovers from the evening before.

Then, Laney wanted to go outside and have a picnic. I had about 1.5 oz of cheese curds and some tomatoes.

In the afternoon, I had some chocolate and an oatmilk latte.

 

For dinner, I made Salmon, mashed potatoes and green beans.

After dinner, the whole family went for a walk.

For some reason (you can guess why), I had a craving for a chocolate bar. I also wanted some more cheese curds and had a Fresca to end the night.

In all, my calorie consumption came in around 1,845.

Spring Challenge: Week 3 Update

We got back from vacation last Monday evening, and so most of this past week was spent getting back on track with my challenge tasks. Here’s how it all played out!

Spring Challenge Tasks 

Drink 90-120 oz of water daily

• Sunday: 60 oz
• Monday: 60 oz
• Tuesday: 90 oz
• Wednesday: 90 oz
• Thursday: 90 oz
• Friday: 90 oz
• Saturday: 90 oz

Walk for 30-60 minutes/week

• Sunday: —
• Monday: —
• Tuesday: —
• Wednesday: 60 minutes
• Thursday: 25 minutes
• Friday: —
• Saturday: —

Track nutrition daily + stay within calorie range 5/7 days each week (1,650 - 1,850 calories)

• Sunday: —
• Monday: —
• Tuesday: 1,835 calories
• Wednesday: 1,710 calories
• Thursday: 1,845 calories
• Friday: 1,800 calories
• Saturday: —

Blog weekly challenge updates

• 3/3 weeks done with this update!

Weight-Loss Goal:

My realistic and main goal is to lose about 6 pounds during this challenge. My “shoot for the moon” goal is to lose 10 - 15 pounds!

10 Weeks | March 21 - May 30

Starting weight: 216 lbs | Goal weight: 210 lbs - 201 lbs

• Week 1: 215 lbs (-1 lb)
• Week 2: —
• Week 3: 218 lbs (+3 lb)
• Week 4:
• Week 5:
• Week 6:
• Week 7:
• Week 8:
• Week 9:
• Week 10:

Only up 3 pounds! I’ll take it! That’s not as bad as it could have been. If you’ve been reading along this past week then you know that I was 10 pounds up (225) when I first weighed in upon my return from Missouri, so being down to 218 feels pretty good in comparison!

I’m happy I enjoyed myself on vacation, and I’m proud of myself for getting right back on track as soon as I got home!

 

Let’s keep going!

Vacation Weight and a Full Day of Eats

Weighing in after vacation is very humbling. It’s also not entirely accurate, right? Let me show you. 

Before vacation, 3/28/26: 215 lbs

After vacation, 4/07/26: 225 lbs

In a little over a week, I gained 10 pounds while on vacation.

Here’s how it’s shaken out since then:

4/08/26: 222 lbs

4/09/26: 220 lbs

4/10/26: 218 lbs

It was hard to see the weight gain, but it’s good to see the weight starting to come back off. Pretty rapidly, too!

I wasn’t very intentional with my eating while on vacation. As soon as I got back home though, I started paying more attention to my food intake. Being intentional has been key in helping me stay on track!

Here’s a full day of eats from Wednesday, 4/8:

I started out the day with a large oatmilk latte with 2 pumps of vanilla from Tim Hortons while I got caught up on some work emails. 

When I got home, it was close to lunchtime so I made myself an Italian style sandwich without cheese on it, that way I could get my cheese helping in curds on the side.

In the afternoon, I had a snack.

For dinner, we grilled up some chicken, chicken sausage, peppers, onions and pierogies on the blackstone. I served it with a dollop of sour cream on top. This was incredible! 

Give me all the days above 60° and food from the grill!

After dinner, I went for a walk with Piper. It was a beautiful evening to be outside! When I came home, I ate half of the bundtlet that my mom got me for Easter. It was so good!

I appreciate being able to fit a sweet treat in my days. When I’m intentional with my eating throughout the day, I can fit it in while still maintaining a calorie deficit.

The total calories consumed in this day came in around 1,710.

Full Day of Eats: Home Again

The first full day back from vacation wasn’t the easiest but, I still managed to focus on what I was eating enough to take pictures and share a full day of eats!

Breakfast called for an oatmilk latte, followed by a premier protein and some leftover hashbrowns that my daughters didn’t finish.

Lunch was leftover meatloaf, courtesy of my thoughtful mother-in-law, and a side salad.

In the afternoon, I had some cheese and chocolate.

For dinner, I had a repeat of lunch because, leftovers.

After dinner, I enjoyed some Easter chocolate.

Total calories for the day came in right around 1,835.