Day 8 - A (sweaty) walk in the Garden

I apologize for the lateness of this post ... Blogger was having a small (?) issue yesterday which prevented me from even logging in to my account. SO, I will post yesterday's post now, and today's post this evening.

Yesterday, BF and I had the wonderful opportunity to accompany my good friend Sarah Jane and her adorable little son Matthew Henry to the Chicago Botanical Garden for the morning. Sarah Jane had a meeting there, so BF and I were on Matthew Duty. BF was, despite his usual morning crabbiness (which, I must say, is extreme even for the least morning oriented person), excited to go ... as, in addition to being crabby, he is a confirmed nature-lover. He had been wanting to explore the Garden for a long time - but we had always been prevented by the distance and the fact that, although admission to the Garden is free, the parking fee for the day is a steep $25.. YIKES!

The morning turned out to be nice for a walk - we had MH in the stroller (which BF pushed most of the time - he even "popped wheelies" with it, much to MH's delight!... so cute!!)- and we got to explore an English Walled Garden (sort of like the Secret Garden!!), a Japanese Garden, a Waterfall Garden, and many many more. I loved the fact that there were tulips of every shade pretty much covering the grounds. It was very beautiful. Toward the end of our time there, however, it started to get very warm and humid... BF, MH, and I were all starting to wilt a little. And... I did end up with my first sunburn of the year... just a little one on the back of my neck. I put sunblock on... apparently not enough. We were all happy when Sarah Jane joined us and we got to return to the air conditioned comfort of the car. Ha!

Going out for the morning, into the afternoon presented a challenge to me: eating out while still adhering to Dukan Principles. Lucky for me, Sarah Jane suggested Subway for lunch - an option that I was confident would have something to suit my dietary constraints. All in all it worked out well I think.

Menu:
Breakfast:
Oat Bran Porridge with vanilla and strawberry yogurt stirred in
Strawberry non-fat Yogurt
Coffee w/ fixins

Lunch:
Subway Baby Spinach and Chicken Salad w/ vinegar and a tiny bit of oil (paid $1 extra and got double the chicken!!)
Strawberry non-fat Yogurt

Dinner:
1/2 Whiting Fish Filet - grilled w/ herbs
1/2 Chicken Thigh (maybe less, because I didn't eat it all)
Brussels Sprouts sauteed with minced garlic
Diet Ginger Ale

Snack:
Vanilla non-fat Yogurt
2 Turkey Hot Dogs w/ a side of cottage cheese
turkey lunchmeat

So.... I sort of ate a lot... especially between lunch and dinner. Got very hungry in the afternoon for some reason. Lucky for me, the Dukan Diet places no limitation on the AMOUNT of food, just the types of foods that are allowed. Because we were out, I had to change my plans a little bit - yesterday was supposed to have been a pure protein day. I improvised and let it be a protein and veggie day. I was a bit nervous that my improvisation might have derailed my progress.... tune in for the next post to see whether I fared well or not! :)