Category: Uncategorized

Daily Food Diary – Day 50 of 365

by annemariedemyen, posted in Uncategorized

I am FIFTY days into my 365 day Daily Food Diary!   When I started this diary, I was not looking  at where I was,  or back to  where I had been.  I was looking forward to  improving my future – becoming stronger and healthier and happier.  I was looking forward to avoiding some of the pitfalls that aging can bring – loss of mobility, loss of muscle tone, loss of vitality. 

This morning, I was on the Lose It! app that I have recently started using.  According to the information I provided, and the calorie plan that was recommended, I will reach my goal weight of 115 pounds by September 8th, 2025.  That’s pretty cool! Of course that will not be the end of my Daily Diary.  Going forward, I will keep working to improve the nutritional value of the calories I consume and expand my knowledge of nutrition.  I will continue to learn how best to feed my body so that I can continue to live my best life and my best future possible.

I am not a ‘has been‘.  I am a ‘YET TO BE’

Food Diary – Day 50

(1) c coffee (2)

(1/2) grapefruit with sugar (56)

(2) crumpets with butter and jam (244)

(24) oz water

(7) oz canned pink salmon (240)

(2) tbsp light Miracle Whip (74)

(1 1/2) c. Lettuce (9)

(1/4) c green onions (10)

(1) c tea (1)

(3) oz pork chop (105)

(1/2) c Rice a Roni fried rice (155)

(1) Side salad (113)

(1/2) bag popcorn (190)

(12) oz carbonated water

Total Calories: 1229

That’s it for today.  Take care and have a great day! 💕☺️

Daily Food Diary – Day 49 of 365

by annemariedemyen, posted in 2025, Health and Fitness, Uncategorized

Good Morning! I am a few days late, but this morning I weighed in at 129.7 pounds.  Yay!

Yesterday, I turned a corner with the app Lose It! that I have been working with the past few days.  Two things that I really like –

(1)  The app breaks down my daily calories into breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks.  Regardless of what I am doing, I always do better if I break it down into smaller parts.  This will help me to not only stick to an overall calorie budget for each day, but will also  help me to make healthier choices throughout the day. 👍

(2) This app helps me to track my activity for the day and see how it affects my available calories.  🤸

I have used a Fitbit activity tracker before, but this is the first time I have used an app that budgets calories for the day, tracks calories consumed and calories used.   I can see this becoming a really useful tool for me.

Note: I haven’t checked it out yet, but Lose It! also tracks the nutritional make up and values of the foods I eat.   That will be very helpful as I continue to work on improving  my diet this year.   Also, while I am starting out with the basic free app, there are benefits to be had with a paid subscription that I will check out down the road.

Food Diary – Day 49 of 365

(1) c coffee (2)

(1) lg pear (133)

(1) Granola bar (160)

(24) oz water

(3) oz DK skinless turkey (160)

(6) Original Triscuits (120)

(1) c tea

(2) sq. dark chocolate (120)

(12) oz carbonated water

(1) lg garden salad with pan fried (in olive oil) white chicken (473)

Total Calories: 1169

That’s it for today. Take care and have a great day! 💞🌞

Daily Food Diary – Day 39 of 365

by annemariedemyen, posted in 2025, Health and Fitness, Uncategorized

Day thirty nine and another bitterly cold day in Saskatchewan.  I don’t know if February is typically this frigid or if we are having a particularly rough go of it this year.  It seems worse than ever.

This appears to be  a good day to go through my archives and remind myself that summer does come to our chilly corner of the world. 🥶

Food Diary – Day 39

(1) c coffee (2)

(1) breakfast sandwich – 1 lg biscuit, 1 egg, 1 sausage patties, 1 slice Havarti cheese (490)

(24) oz water

(1/2) pear (70)

(1/3) c raspberries (20)

(5) licorice all sorts (107)

(1) c tea (1)

(1) med salad with pork souvlaki, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, cauliflower, radishes, green onions, sunflower seeds, dried fried onion. (430)

(11) Hint of Lime chips (250)

Total calories:  1378

That is all for today. Take care and have a great day! 💗😊

Daily Food Diary – Day 37 of 365

by annemariedemyen, posted in 2025, Health and Fitness, Uncategorized

I am thirty-seven days in on my Food Diary and my mission to become more mindful and responsible in what I consume.  

This exercise is just part of what has become  my health and fitness journey to adopt a strong and healthy lifestyle. 

I have learned a lot in the past three years but there is one quote that I came across recently that really sums up the method to my (possible) madness.

“If you are persistent,  you will get it.  If you are consistent, you will keep it.“

This quote has been credited to Harvey Mackay who is a successful American businessman, author, and syndicated columnist.

His advice is obviously relative and effective to more than creating a fit and healthy lifestyle.    Words worth noting.   (Take note Genie. 💞)

Granddaughter Genie (with her Mom and our daughter Jen). 
I recently discovered Genie has been stalking me (following me 😂) on my Food Diary blogs. 

Food Diary – Day 37

(1) c coffee (2)

(3) Crumpets with jam & butter (408)

(1/2) c pineapple, (1) peach, (1/2) cup raspberries (123)

(2) cookies (146)

(25) salt & vinegar chips (270)

(2) c beef stew (300)

(2) Tea biscuits (200)

(12) oz carbonated water

(1/2) Bag popcorn (250)

Total Calories: 1699

That’s it for today. Take care and have a great day! ❤️😊

Daily Food Diary – Day 36 of 365

by annemariedemyen, posted in 2025, Health and Fitness, Uncategorized

I’m thirty six days in with my daily food diary and it hasn’t been going too bad so far.  This month, I am counting calories to add to the challenge.  I am  glad February is a short month because I struggle with this exercise. 

Counting calories isn’t that big a deal if one is eating one pear or a bowl of cereal.  If one is dealing with a plate of homemade stew, chilli, or soup, things get complicated.   Then there is meat!  Two slices of thin sliced bacon is 180 calories – RAW bacon.  So what if you cook it in the oven, drain the fat, pat it with paper towel AND use most of it for later use, when it is microwaved and once more patted down with paper towel to remove extra oil.   Air fried chicken wings are 80 calories each.  What constitutes each chicken wing?  Dan and I get packages that are an equal number of drummets and the other piece with two skinny bones.  Dan eats the drummets and I eat the other pieces.  Is each piece 80 calories? Are all pieces considered equal.  No idea!  It gets so confusing!

Speaking of struggling with exercise, yesterday Dan and I took Molly back to Waterfall Park.  As I was getting her out of the Jeep, I caught a glimpse of a dog coming up behind us.  Trying to keep her from mowing me down and bouncing over to make a new friend, I did not even realize the other dog was her bestie Willie from the dogpark.

It turned out to be a great outing.  Molly and Willie walked together, veered off a few times to tumble in the fresh snow, sat to watch the squirrels playing in the trees AND Dan and Randy had the chance to catch up as they walked their dogs.  I wandered behind and managed to get one shot of our little crew.

Food Diary – Day 36

(1) coffee (2)

(1) c Cheerios with 2% milk (200)

(24) oz water

(1) sm taco salad with 5 Hint of Lime chips (264)

(1) c tea

(1/2) pkg ramen noodles with vegetables (342)

(2) No Name egg rolls with plum sauce (235)

(2) Riblets (60)

(5) Air fried chicken wings, refried with Frank’s Extra Red Hot and Frank’s Honey Garlic Sauce. (400)

(12)  oz carbonated water

(1) c tea (1)

Total calories:   1404

** Yes, two riblets (I’m not a fan but I like to make them for Dan) and it was 10 wing pieces (not the drummet).  And what is that piece of the wing called?  If they even have a name! 🙄

That’s it for today.  Take care and have a great day! 💞🌞

Daily Food Diary – Day 35 of 365

by annemariedemyen, posted in 2025, Health and Fitness, Uncategorized

If our local groundhog declared an end to winter earlier this week, Mother Nature did not get the message.

We got a fresh drop of snow last night, we are expecting a lot more in the next forty eight hours, and while our temperatures are out of the deep freeze, they are  far from balmy.

The good news is, our weather has us craving comfort food, much of which is nutritionally sound.   Our stew last night was full of protein and fresh vegetables and I’m thinking chilli could be on the menu tonight.

This fresh snow also provides an opportunity for a good workout and fresh air.   That snow isn’t going to clear itself and even if Dan gets our (NEW) snowblower back up and running, there are places a snowblower just can’t go.

Food Diary – Day 35

(2) c coffee (2)

(3) Crumpets (240) with butter (68) and jam (100) 

(24) oz water

(1) c tea (1)

(1/2) pear (51)

(2/2) kiwi

(3) cookies (219)

(4) c homemade beef stew (600)

(12) oz water

(1) c tea (1)

Total calories:   1313

Beef stew – Beef, potato, carrot, lo bak (daikon), onion, garlic, mushrooms, peas, turnip, celery,  gravy

That’s it for today. Take care &  have a great day! 💞🤗

Daily Food Diary – Day 30 of 365

by annemariedemyen, posted in Uncategorized

Good morning! It’s another day and once again time to start planning another supper menu.

Deciding what to have for supper is one of the biggest challenges of my day.   Dan is generally open to whatever I come up with.  I am fairly  easy to feed as well – or at least I was until I discovered that I cannot tolerate anything with yeast in it.  Yeast, or  yeast extract, is a very common ingredient in prepared foods.  These days our meals are generally homemade and made from scratch.

Most of the time, I can make any meal yeast free.  A lot of meals are meat, vegetables, and starch (potato, rice, pasta).  Extras can be added by adjusting to be yeast free.   Non yeast batter can be made with eggs, breading can be made with crushed cornflakes, baking powder biscuits can be used for breakfast sandwiches, Yorkshire pudding can be used instead of dinner rolls.  The options are pretty limitless with a little extra time and effort.   Anything can be made without yeast extract so I’m not sure why it shows up in everything from store bought salad dressing to canned gravy. 😯

What I can’t do is make a basic hamburger with a basic hamburger bun, something I have been craving for a week.   Since I haven’t been craving the nausea, bloating, and cramps that would come with ingesting yeast, my supper last night revolved around a naked burger surrounded by sides. 

Daily Food Diary – Day 30

(1) c coffee

(1 1/2) c Mini Wheats with 1/4 c  2% milk

(24) oz water

(1) Apple, raspberries, and 1 PC dark chocolate

(1) c tea

(1) Hamburger with red onion, horseradish, mushrooms fried in olive oil with a teaspoon of butter for taste, brown beans, onion rings, and a few potato chips

(12) oz carbonated water

(20) oz water

That’s it for today. Take care and have a great day! 💞🤗

Daily Food Diary – Day 29 of 365

by annemariedemyen, posted in Uncategorized

It’s Day 29 and I am still here – working to get on track with what I consume in a day. 

There are two main reasons that I get off track in the first place.

The first is just plain mindless eating.  Being retired,  and at home for the most part, I can eat what I want, when I want.   Starting this food diary has been great for dealing with that.  Having to note everything that I consume  and knowing I will have to post it for anyone to see has been a major deterrent to mindless eating.

The second reason for getting off track is stress.  I am a stress eater and being stressed has me craving unhealthy food choices.   For the past few days, my stress level has been through the roof.  There have been some stressful happenings around here but nothing that I cannot typically handle.  This week I am really struggling and I am pretty sure I figured out why this morning.   Ironically, I am stressed because of my Daily Food Diary.  Specifically, the amount of time that I have been spending on my phone – writing my blogs, reading blogs, scrolling for photos, and being distracted by notifications from other social media apps and the like.   It’s not good for my eyes, and not good for me.  So, I have to work on less screen time to get my stress  back under control – while maintaining my commitment to keep up my Food Diary for the next 336 Days.

Food Diary – Day 29

(1) c coffee

(1) c Cheerios with 1/4 c 2% milk

(2) Chicken wings and (1) drumstick

(1) sm bowl chips and cream cheese dip

(2) chocolates

(24) oz water

(1) c tea

(24) oz water

(2) small pot pies (store bought)

(1/2) bag of popcorn

That is almost it for today!  Yesterday, I received a letter from a surgeon at the Pasqua Hospital.  February 24th, I have an appointment with him to discuss getting my hernia re-repaired.  That’s pretty impressive since my Nurse Practitioner told  me on January 23rd it would be eight weeks before I heard from his office!    I also checked him out online and he seems to come from a pretty amazing medical background.    It all sounds good. 🤗

Now that is all for today.  Take care and have a great day! ☺️❤️

Daily Food Diary – Day 28 of 365

by annemariedemyen, posted in 2025, Health and Fitness, Uncategorized

We are wrapping up January and for those of us in Saskatchewan,  we are fortunately enjoying some unseasonably warm weather.  Our temperatures have been straddling the freezing point for a few days now and I have  been showing my appreciation by getting out and about.

I have even been heading to the dogpark with Dan and Molly every morning.  Walking there is a bit challenging because our streets and sidewalks are, for the most part, icy ruts and snow banks.  Navigating them while walking an excited hundred pound dog is a workout.   Yesterday, although the temperatures were mild, the wind was anything but.  My lungs did not appreciate the wind.  By the time I got home I was pretty much exhausted by constant coughing fits, but after a bit of a rest the coughing subsided and I was able to do my morning aerobics and get on with my day.

Food Diary – Day 28 of 365

(1) c coffee

(3) waffles with butter and syrup

(3) slices thin sliced bacon

(24) oz water

(1) c tea

(2) sm bowls of Hint of Lime tortilla chips with salsa

(24) oz water

(1) Large chef salad

(1) c tea

I came up a bit short  on my water yesterday,   but my salad included a generous serving of lettuce, spinach, tomato, cucumber, radishes, orange pepper, and green onion.  Plus I had a couple of cups of tea. 🙂

That’s it for today.  Take care and have a great day! 💞🌞

Daily Food Diary – Day 26 of 365

by annemariedemyen, posted in 2025, Health and Fitness, Uncategorized

I have been noting and posting my daily food and liquid intake for twenty six days.  I have found some room for improvement, made some adjustments, and have begun to realize some benefits. 🤗

Obviously, my health and fitness journey is about more than what I eat and drink.  I do aerobics six days a week, typically do strength training Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and I rest on Sunday. 

Yesterday, my rest day included time spent grooming our dog, Molly and time outside enjoying a rousing game of fetch.  It is a bit challenging when you have a hundred pound  Pyrenees who is less than co-operative. 🤦

* My husband Dan helps position and brush Molly.  He also gives the porch a good vacuuming when we are done. 💞
I don’t fetch.

Food Diary – Day 26

(1) c coffee

(3) Thin slices pcs of bacon

(2) Eggs

(1/2) Tomato

(2) Potato patties

(12) oz water

(1) c tea

(1) Apple

(24) oz water

(12) oz carbonated water

(1 1/2) c pork souvlaki with mushrooms

(1) c cheese ravioli with minimal butter and fresh garlic

(1) sm side salad

(20) oz water

(2) chocolates

(1) c tea

That’s it for today.  Take care and have a great day! 💞🌞