A new toy

Sometimes it takes a new toy to motivate you in a positive way. For the last 2 months hubby and I have been using the Nintendo DS Personal Trainer Walking game/device. It is a game cartridge and 2 pedometers that you wear to count your steps and life rhythm through the day. We have wanted to get son his own pedometer to go with this, but money has been on somewhat the tight side ( summer months bring lower income for us) , and it has not come to be. Son has been very patient, walking along with us but let's face it, not having all the same things as the rest of the gang is no fun. I was going to let him use mine for a couple of days to get an idea of how many steps he was getting in, but hubby decided he could probably do without his, as he has learned a very affective way to get in his steps for the day. ( He is an ordained Roman Catholic Deacon , and one of the disciplines he is asked to do every day is to pray a set of prayers and psalms called The Office of the Hours. He found a copy of this for his Ipod, downloads it every day and he walks while praying the office. A moving meditation/prayer). So Tuesday night hubby gave son his pedometer for the DS, set up his records and we were good to go. Yesterday morning son slept in late, and I was worried that we would not get in our daily walk because of being pressed for time. However, he woke up, asked for breakfast and then begged that we go for a big walk. How can I refuse ? We did , and by the end of the day he was thrilled to see his results. The Personal Trainer walking is not perfect, but if it motivates you to become more active, it is definately worth the investment !

Breakfast yesterday was 2 homemade sweet potato muffins and a container of probiotic yogert and coffee for 410 calories. For me this lasted well, but caused a huge spike in my son's blood sugar after our walk for some reason. I could tell through his behaviors, so next time this breakfast comes up I will have to switch his yogert to something like a hard boild egg and some nuts for the same caloric value.


Lunch was a very satisfying 465 calories- 1 1/2 sliced hard boiled eggs on an arnolds thin with Promise margarine, broccoli, celery and carrots, a honeycrisp apple, 100 calorie pack of Sunchips and a cup of Alphabet soup. For some reason , son and I really like eggs with alphabet soup. Snack later in the afternoon was my usual 290 calories of an apple, 100 calorie pack almonds and a snack pack pudding.

Dinner was homemade chicken caccitore over 2 oz Heartland Plus pasta with steamed green cauliflower for 475 calories. Our market regularly carries cauliflower in several colors, and sometimes it is fun to serve the odd ones. After dinner the guys went to choir rehearsal , where my son was officially made a member of the choir ( yay Nick !) , and I got to spend the evening watching TV in peace and doing some more stretches an belly dance moves. After a whole I had a snack of a cup of plain yogert with cocoa powder, flax and stevia, a tablespoon of coconut, a FiberPlus bar for 300 calories - day total 1890.