Jen's Journal: Recording it All to Lose it All

[jenanderson]

I have known that my eating habits and lifestyle choice have gotten out of control and I have made every excuse in the book to ignore what is happening. I have been ignoring the weight gain by not stepping on the scale, ignoring that my blood sugars have gone up even though I can tell that they are high lately and ignoring that I do not have the same energy level as I once had. It is time to take control and quit ignoring all of these things.

In an effort to face this full on, I am going to try to keep a daily journal. I want to be able to posts my weight (even though this makes me totally freak out ), my measurements, record exercising, thoughts about food and just how the whole process is going. I know that I will see ups and downs with all of it, but this will be the place that shows the successes as well as help me be realistic in facing the challenges.

My name is Jen and I am 41 years old. I am married and have two children (DS9 and DD13). We are all “tall people”! This means that you can "hide" weight before people will agree that you need to diet. I have been good at thinking I was "hiding" the weight. My DH will follow along by eating a bit healthier with me and he may possibly exercise some. My two children will also benefit by eating healthier but truth be told…DS is so skinny and I am happy with anything he eats and DD is also fairly thin as she dances 5 days a week on a competitive dance group. So this means that I am primarily on my own in the house. I have had to watch my weight for about the past 10 years (birth of DS) but it has been the last couple of years that have done me in.

Using every ounce of courage I had…I stepped on the scale on Friday so that I could join the BL9 here on the WISH board. The number totally overwhelmed me and I could not believe it was really this bad. I almost felt like giving up right then and there! Instead, I went online to confirm what I suspected…I had 50 pounds to lose!

So, here I am. I am getting ready to take control and I am going to rely on a little help from my friends. Be prepared for long entries because when I am reflective...I tend to ramble on and on!

 

[jenanderson]

Day One
Well, this is day one of my journal but I actually started my changes 3 days ago. Stepping on the scale for the 1st time in months, I was in for a shock. Here is the important data from facing reality...

Statistics
Weight / Goal: 198 / 148
Pounds Lost to Date: 0
Hips: 42.5 inches
Waist: 41.5 inches
Thigh: 24 inches
Upper Arm: 14.5 inches

I will not post all these statistics each day. First, I don't feel like them. I know it will get better as I continue on but for now...having to type it and actually claim that weight weekly will be enough.

Food is what really gets me...I LOVE food! I love to munch, I love to have a bowl of chocolate next to my computer as I work and I love to eat wonderful meals. Recording my food and the thoughts I have about it will be filled with reflective thoughts.

Breakfast (3.5 points on WW):
Yogurt (low fat, strawberry)
1/4 c. Post Grape Nuts Cereal (mixed in the cereal)

Lunch (6 points on WW)
1/2 Cooked Chicken Breast
1/2 c. White Rice
1 BIG serving of baby carrots

Dinner (10 points on WW)
1/4 lb. of lean ground beef
1 tbsp olive oil (next time I will use way less in the pan)
1/2 c. fat-free refried beans
Homemade Salsa
Lettuce
1 tbsp. reduced fat sour cream (skipping this next time)

Water:
8+ glasses

I am already obsessing over my 4.5 points that I have left for bedtime! Alright, my thoughts on these meals. I am going to try this yogurt breakfast for a while. It was pretty good with the Grape Nuts mixed in. The lunch was left overs from supper and was surprisingly filling. I think it helped that I had 16 oz of water to drink before I ate. Supper...it was great! Here is what I did: cooked the hamburger in a pan in the olive oil (as I said, I will use WAY less oil next time). Then, I put the 1/2 cup of beans on the plate and set the hamburger on top of it. Topped that with the lettuce, salsa and sour cream. It was GREAT! Another thought is that next time I will skip the sour cream - it did not add all that much. I might try a slice of cheese instead to help me get some dairy in. I feel like I am sloshing around from all the water I have had today but it has helped with keeping me feeling like I am full. A slight issue with this is that I am a teacher and I can't always go to the bathroom whenever I want to. As I look at my food, I am not very "balanced" at this point. I could use to add a bit of dairy to my day.

Exercise:
I did not exercise today. I am working on getting our Wii moved to someplace where I can use it (right now it is in DS's room and that is not going to work for me). I live in Minnesota where it is below zero today so going outside for a walk is not a good option. I don't belong to a gym and will not consider joining one because the cost is very high where I live. I am going to walk outside when it is 10° or warmer. I eventually want to use the walk to 5K plan to start a walking program and then in the future...train to do a 1/2 marathon (wouldn't that be something). Tonight I also found my pilates DVD so that is an option as well. I know that exercising is important and it will be coming soon.

Today's Challenge:
Obsessing over my WW points. I keep thinking I want food and then I keep going to calculate how many points it is and if I eat it will I still be okay and if I don't eat it what will I eat to use my last points...feel the obsession! I know this will get better as I start getting into the WW habit.

Today's Success:
Getting through this day! Seriously, this is going to be a day by day experience to start with. It takes a lot of will power to account for all my food and not munch without claiming it. It took lots of will power to start my journal and not only face the facts - but share all the facts for the whole world to see.

That's all for day one! Thanks for following along!
Jen

 

[jbm02]

Go, Jen!!! We can do this together (just separated by several still-not-very-warm-states!)!

 

[inkkognito]

Great start! Journaling is such a great way to keep yourself on track and accountable.

 

[TxRabbit]

I love reading your musings about food! I feel related to you!

I know being a teacher would be rough business with the whole water thing, but I encourage you to keep that up. I recall hearing somewhere that if you add a bit of something to your water it helps it stay in your system longer (i.e. squeeze some lemon into it), the additional nutrients make the water have to be digested or something which makes the whole process take longer.

So your dinner made me want AVOCADO added. I would totally skip the sour cream. Avocado is a good fat and would be an excellent addition. If you like it, though, LOL. Some don't. Maybe in MN is would be difficult to get this time of year?

 

[jenanderson]

Go, Jen!!! We can do this together (just separated by several still-not-very-warm-states!)!

Jude - I agree...we can do this together! There are so many times where I think..."If I only I lived closer to Jude"! This is really one of those times!

Great start! Journaling is such a great way to keep yourself on track and accountable.

Thanks! The journaling does help because I tend to obsess a bit about food and this gives me an outlet.

I love reading your musings about food! I feel related to you!

I know being a teacher would be rough business with the whole water thing, but I encourage you to keep that up. I recall hearing somewhere that if you add a bit of something to your water it helps it stay in your system longer (i.e. squeeze some lemon into it), the additional nutrients make the water have to be digested or something which makes the whole process take longer.

So your dinner made me want AVOCADO added. I would totally skip the sour cream. Avocado is a good fat and would be an excellent addition. If you like it, though, LOL. Some don't. Maybe in MN is would be difficult to get this time of year?

I am so going to try adding something to my water! My students have even commented about how I have to go to the bathroom all the time! I have told them I am drinking water to be healthier and that they should all do the same!

I LOVE avocado and I thought the same thing last night...I would have put the avocado on instead of the sour cream! I might have to get some the next time I make that meal!

 

[TxRabbit]

Is your homemade salsa REALLY salsa or is it more like pico? Do you have a recipe to make jarred style salsa? I just entered my calories from yesterday into the NutriMirror and my sodium is WAY high and a big part of that is from the salsa that I ate. Now I'm on the hunt for making it, so I can control the salt, but I want jarred style, not fresh pico style...

 

[jenanderson]

Day Two
Well, today I am having a bit of an issue with food...I will get there when I log all my food in. Today presented many challenges as it was DS's birthday...that means dinner out, cupcakes, ice cream...however, I did not have any of the sweets so I was really proud of myself!!!

Statistics
Weight/Goal: 196/148
Pounds Lost to Date: 2

Yep, 2 pounds! Here is where it is a bit confusing...even though my journal is labeled "DAY 2", I have been following my WW diet for 4 days. I didn't want you all to think I lost 2 pounds in 1 day.

I still was obsessing a bit over food today. I kept thinking about when I could eat next and planning out what I thought I was going to eat...have I mentioned that I am a bit obsessive?

Breakfast (3.5 points on WW):
Yogurt (low fat, strawberry)
1/4 c. Post Grape Nuts Cereal (mixed in the cereal)

Lunch (6 points on WW)
1/2 Cooked Chicken Breast
1/2 c. White Rice
1 BIG serving of baby carrots

Dinner (???????? points on WW - this is a problem!!!!!!)
1/2 Bowl of Chicken White Bean Soup

Total WW Points Eaten Today
??????????

Water
8+ Glasses (do you hear me sloshing? )

Alright, here is today's problem...I went out for dinner for DS's birthday and I can't find the point value of my soup anywhere!!!! The bowl was a normal size bowl but I was so worried about the points that I only ate 1/2 of it. I had them box the other half and brought it home. The soup had TONS of beans in it. There were exactly 3 pieces of chicken in it. It seemed as if it was a chicken stock that was thickened a bit (by the beans?). In the center it was garnished with a few strips of tortilla chips (maybe 2 or 3) and cheese (I put it in my spoon to "measure" it and it all fit into my spoon). I have no clue what to do to get a point value for this.

This means I am now obsessing over how to enter my information in my WW online tracker. I have no clue if I can have a snack. I have no clue if I should take points away from my extra points. I am going to have to seek more advice on this one.

Exercise
Still no exercising. I am planning on starting the exercising this weekend. Since I hurt my back over Christmas break, I do not want to push it yet. I would try a bit of walking but it is still WAY too cold here.

Today's Challenge
Going out for dinner was a challenge for me. It was difficult because it was a restaurant where no matter how hard I searched on the internet, I could not find point values. I also asked for nutritional information at the restaurant but they did not have any. I hated this feeling...it made me feel a bit out of control as I studied all the choices. At this point in the diet, I like feeling like I am control by knowing the points for everything and really being able to study and make good choices. I did not like being in a situation where I felt like I could possibly spoil all my well thought out plans.

Today's Success
Knowing that I was making good choices. I skipped cupcakes (offered to me 2 times)...I skipped ice cream...I did not get my favorite big burger with french fries...I studied the menu and made what I felt was a good choice...I ate only 1/2 the bowl of soup because I was full (not stuffed but just full)...and I was thoughtful today about everything I ate.

Just so you know, the obsession about food and what I eat usually ends about one week into the diet. It is just the first few days that are so tough for me that I seem to do nothing but think about food!

Day two is coming to an end. I am going to go to bed without a snack (this is okay because I am not really hungry) and be happy with my day!

 

[jenanderson]

Is your homemade salsa REALLY salsa or is it more like pico? Do you have a recipe to make jarred style salsa? I just entered my calories from yesterday into the NutriMirror and my sodium is WAY high and a big part of that is from the salsa that I ate. Now I'm on the hunt for making it, so I can control the salt, but I want jarred style, not fresh pico style...

Sorry, it is really more of the pico. I don't make homemade salsa because I think salsa is too salty for me. Have you searched online for a good recipe?

Good Luck!

 

[inkkognito]

Way to go avoiding those sweets!

 

[TxRabbit]

Great job avoiding the whole birthday temptation!! My DS's bday is the 17th so I'll think about you as I turn down the cake that I am sure we will have. LOL.

I did look on recipezaar for a salsa recipe. I found what could be exactly what I'm looking for... We'll see how it goes though. Need to smoke/grill the veggies to get that fire-roasted taste. If I don't do it today, it won't happen, with the cold front coming through. But I HAVE to get the sodium down... and I do love my salsas.

 

[mandac]

Hi. I hope you don't mind my reading your journal. I am looking for all the inspiration I can get. My family is also "Tall People" but all my sister's have been able to maintain wonderful low weights, making them look like the fabulous people from the movies. I on the other hand am tall and chunky. Sadly my DH and I have both gained weight like CRAZY since we have been married (2 1/2 years). Your food ideas and thoughts are great. Hopefully we will both be tall fabulous looking people soon.

 

[jenanderson]

Way to go avoiding those sweets!

Thanks! Today it has been a bit hard to say no to all the sweets. We still have cupcakes in the house, there is tons of chocolate sitting around and one of my students brought cookies to school for a treat today. I have skipped them all though. I have decided that if I make it through the week without giving into temptations...I will have a small serving of M&Ms at the end of the week.

Great job avoiding the whole birthday temptation!! My DS's bday is the 17th so I'll think about you as I turn down the cake that I am sure we will have. LOL.

I did look on recipezaar for a salsa recipe. I found what could be exactly what I'm looking for... We'll see how it goes though. Need to smoke/grill the veggies to get that fire-roasted taste. If I don't do it today, it won't happen, with the cold front coming through. But I HAVE to get the sodium down... and I do love my salsas.

I am glad that you found a recipe, hopefully it will help with the sodium problems.

Hi. I hope you don't mind my reading your journal. I am looking for all the inspiration I can get. My family is also "Tall People" but all my sister's have been able to maintain wonderful low weights, making them look like the fabulous people from the movies. I on the other hand am tall and chunky. Sadly my DH and I have both gained weight like CRAZY since we have been married (2 1/2 years). Your food ideas and thoughts are great. Hopefully we will both be tall fabulous looking people soon.

Feel free to read and post! The more the merrier! It is kind of interesting how some people are inspired by reading other journals and then how inspiring it is to me to read what people post in response. I feel like I am totally rambling on when I write it all and sometimes wonder what people think as they read all my crazy thought!

We both will be tall fabulous looking people soon!!!!

 

[jenanderson]

Day Three
Today is a good day. I have been so good about recording all I eat and staying within my WW point range. I feel really good about how the food situation is going.

I am starting to look at recipes online and try to find some new food ideas (especially for breakfast). One of my downfalls in life is that when it seems like I am eating the same thing every day...I suggest eating out and eating out makes me want to eat things I shouldn't. So, I have to start finding new food that is quick and easy to add to my list of options.

On a positive note, a friend of mine helped me figure out points for my soup. Neither one of us could find the exact soup but she helped me find a soup that was REALLY close to what I had. The one we found was 4 points...so I added 1 point for safety and put 5 down. The bummer part was that by the time I figured out I had extra points for the day, it was really late and I did not want to eat right before bed.

Statistics
Weight/Goal: 196/148
Pounds Lost to Date: 2

Glad to see that the weight was the same today. It would have been nice to go down more...but at least it didn't go up!

Breakfast (3.5 points on WW):
Yogurt (low fat, strawberry)
1/4 c. Post Grape Nuts Cereal (mixed in the cereal)

Lunch (6 points on WW)
1 serving of baby carrots
1 clementine
1/2 bowl of soup (left overs from last night)

Dinner (7 points on WW)
1 1/8 c. fat-free refried beans (can you believe this is only 3.5 points!!!)
1/8 pound ground beef (with taco seasoning)
lettuce
homemade salsa/pico
1/2 serving tortilla chips


Total WW Points Eaten Today
16.5 (I still have points left for snack)

Water
8+ Glasses (still sloshing! )

As you can see, my breakfast has been the same thing 3 days in a row. I don't really care at this point because I actually really like the yogurt/grape nuts mixture. Also, it is really quick and easy. If I tried to do anything that took more time, I would probably skip it because my mornings are so crazy already. So for now, expect to see the same breakfast for some time.

With lunch, I have started eating most of my carrots first. I kind of munch on them slowly. I don't know if it is all in my head or what but this makes me feel like I am a bit full before I start the main part of my meal. So far, my lunches have carried me through the day without problems.

Tonight's supper was great! I totally skipped the sour cream, cheese and taco shell. Instead, I put the beans down first...added the hamburger...put tons of salsa/pico on top with the lettuce. I ate it with the tortilla chips and then when I ran out of those, I ate it alone. I was surprise at how much food it was and felt really full when I was done.

I have started a new routine when eating though...one bite of food...one sip of water...one bite of food...one sip of water....repeat! I have also started eating much slower. Any little thing that makes me feel more full is a better thing.

Exercise
Okay. This is going to have to start. I am going to bring the Wii downstairs tonight and set it up so I can start using the Wii Fit. The weather is totally not cooperating with me and therefore walking is not a good option. My back is still bothering me so pilates is not a good option yet. Tonight it is time to stop ignoring this important part of the plan...time to get set up to exercise!

Today's Challenge
Today's challenge is this...I have always felt that chocolate should be at the base of the food pyramid. It is a fundamental idea that I have built my life on these past few years. So, today my body was begging for the chocolate all day. It has been a challenge to not eat the chocolate cupcakes that are in the house (DS's birthday leftoever), not to eat the Dove chocolates that are in the bottom cupboard way at the back, not to eat the chocolate chip cookies my student brought in for a treat today, etc. I have decided that I will have a sugar free hot cocoa tonight for part of my snack and see if that will help.

Today's Success
Even though I did not really exercise, I went up and down the stairs over and over today. My classroom is on the 2nd floor of the school and the copy machine is on the 1st floor. I had tons of copies to make today! Instead of bringing it all down with me, I took one copy downstairs...made copies...went back upstairs for the next copying job...went downstairs and made copies...went back upstairs! You should have seen people looking at me as I went back and forth! Funny but it was a way to help me feel better about not exercising today!

Time to go as I have rambled on enough tonight! Happy Healthy Day Everyone!

Jen

Day two is coming to an end. I am going to go to bed without a snack (this is okay because I am not really hungry) and be happy with my day!

 

[inkkognito]

Good idea to have that M&M reward to look forward to. It makes it just a tiny bit easier to say "no" to the temptations.

 

[TxRabbit]

I know I posted this on a thread...hopefully not yours already...but I heard on a radio show that when you are craving chocolate, you are really craving the endorphin high that accompanies eating chocolate. They recommended that you exercise to get your endorphins on to overcome the craving.

Hopefully the hot cocoa did the trick!

 

[jbm02]

I am so going to try adding something to my water! My students have even commented about how I have to go to the bathroom all the time! I have told them I am drinking water to be healthier and that they should all do the same!

Jen, I couldn't imagine not have immediate access to a ladies room with all the water we are trying to drink. I am soo impressed that you are figuring out a way to do it.

Hi. I hope you don't mind my reading your journal. I am looking for all the inspiration I can get. My family is also "Tall People" but all my sister's have been able to maintain wonderful low weights, making them look like the fabulous people from the movies. I on the other hand am tall and chunky. Sadly my DH and I have both gained weight like CRAZY since we have been married (2 1/2 years). Your food ideas and thoughts are great. Hopefully we will both be tall fabulous looking people soon.

AAARGH - I married into a family of "tall people"! My DH is 6'4, DSILs are both 5'10 or so and my DFIL is 6'8!! I, on the other hand, am about 5'2. If I stretch when being measured... I am soo jealous of all of you. Seriously. I can only imagine being able to see in a crowd... But it is also heartening to me to see that tall people understand weight loss issues. One SIL actually weighs almost exactly what I do - and she is a size 6. To be a size 6 I think I need to lose about 40 pounds. There was a comment about weight made at dinner last week and when I said what I weighed (just among the girls), her comment was "NO WAY. That's what I weigh and you look..." Then she trailed off because she realized that her filter was not on. So "tall people" haven't been on my happy list. Thanks for putting them back there!! LOL

Day Three
Today is a good day. I have been so good about recording all I eat and staying within my WW point range. I feel really good about how the food situation is going.

Day two is coming to an end. I am going to go to bed without a snack (this is okay because I am not really hungry) and be happy with my day!

Jen. I really like the way you are listing your food. I think I am going to try that on my journal. I have been having trouble keeping up with the actual writing a bit - does life ever slow down? But I think I need to find time to make it work. I also listed my (gasp) measurements like you did because that is the only way I am going to face my actual size. I used to have a concave stomach - not just flat, but actually concave. I don't know if that can ever happen again but I'm going to give it my best try. When I had that great belly, high waisted pants were in style. Now that I have the baby pooch that refuses to go away, low rise pants are in style. AARGH. Too bad hoops aren't still in style - I have the body that is made for them!!

I still haven't made it through a day without a snack but I added another 28-day rule (in other words, I am going to try this for 28 days and hope that it works!): no eating after 7PM. Hopefully that will help.

I LOVE reading your journal. Keep 'em coming!
Jude

 

[jenanderson]

Good idea to have that M&M reward to look forward to. It makes it just a tiny bit easier to say "no" to the temptations.

Had the M&Ms! Tonight for my evening snack I had 10 of them and I was TOTALLY satisfied! I was surprised that I was content with just 10 and then pleased that I did not deny myself something I love. The big change is that in the past, I would have taken the big bag...poured it all into a bowl...and then sit and eat M&Ms until I have a stomach ache. I would just do it because they were there. Tonight when I had the M&Ms, I enjoyed all 10 of them and then was perfectly fine with not eating any more!

I know I posted this on a thread...hopefully not yours already...but I heard on a radio show that when you are craving chocolate, you are really craving the endorphin high that accompanies eating chocolate. They recommended that you exercise to get your endorphins on to overcome the craving.

Hopefully the hot cocoa did the trick!

I do need to start the exercising. I have had so much going on this week that I had kind of just put down starting the eating/diet changes for the 1st week. My goal was to be sure to start exercising by next Monday. I will hope that when I start the exercising, I will lose some of the food cravings. It has actually has not been all that bad today.

The sugar free hot cocoa is great though when I am craving chocolate and don't want to having any!

Jen, I couldn't imagine not have immediate access to a ladies room with all the water we are trying to drink. I am soo impressed that you are figuring out a way to do it.

That is my huge problem with the water! I am drinking the water but I am constantly telling my class I will be right back! I wonder what they are going home and telling their parents about their teacher having to go to the bathroom all the time!

AAARGH - I married into a family of "tall people"! My DH is 6'4, DSILs are both 5'10 or so and my DFIL is 6'8!! I, on the other hand, am about 5'2. If I stretch when being measured... I am soo jealous of all of you. Seriously. I can only imagine being able to see in a crowd... But it is also heartening to me to see that tall people understand weight loss issues. One SIL actually weighs almost exactly what I do - and she is a size 6. To be a size 6 I think I need to lose about 40 pounds. There was a comment about weight made at dinner last week and when I said what I weighed (just among the girls), her comment was "NO WAY. That's what I weigh and you look..." Then she trailed off because she realized that her filter was not on. So "tall people" haven't been on my happy list. Thanks for putting them back there!! LOL

That is horrible! This is why I don't want to tell ANYONE my weight. I don't want someone to say something that is going to make me feel even worse about it right now. People don't always think before they speak but it is amazing how much it hurts to hear some of their comments.

Jen. I really like the way you are listing your food. I think I am going to try that on my journal. I have been having trouble keeping up with the actual writing a bit - does life ever slow down? But I think I need to find time to make it work. I also listed my (gasp) measurements like you did because that is the only way I am going to face my actual size. I used to have a concave stomach - not just flat, but actually concave. I don't know if that can ever happen again but I'm going to give it my best try. When I had that great belly, high waisted pants were in style. Now that I have the baby pooch that refuses to go away, low rise pants are in style. AARGH. Too bad hoops aren't still in style - I have the body that is made for them!!

I still haven't made it through a day without a snack but I added another 28-day rule (in other words, I am going to try this for 28 days and hope that it works!): no eating after 7PM. Hopefully that will help.

I LOVE reading your journal. Keep 'em coming!
Jude

Jude - Glad you are liking the journal. It takes a lot of time and sometimes I feel like I should be using the time to exercise...but this week I know it is important for me to make habits with the food and to really think about what I am eating. I have realized many things while planning my meals and thinking about my hunger level. I have also really enjoyed reflecting on my days when I read through my journal and see that I can do it. I think that as I write each day out it makes me feel like the next day can be just as successful.

I love your 28 day rule! I think I will try that out as well.

Your days are crazy so I hope that through all of this you are still finding time for you. I like that next week's COW is going to inspire all of us to do that. I am thinking about how much I love to take a bath but don't usually find time to do that...I am thinking that even a 10 minute bath would be a great thing to do for myself.

Alright...time to write my journal and sign off for bed! Later....
Jen

 

[jenanderson]

Day Four
So many plans for exercising today and then every time it just did not really work out...so, I am a bit disappointed with how I let other things "talk" me out of it. For example, I work up to a bunch of snow this morning. I thought that I would go out and exercise by shoveling...but I did not. Instead, I thought that I better get ready for work because when it snows a bunch that I have to bring both kids to school and it was going to be a crazy morning. It was a crazy morning but I could have gone out and shoveled for even 10 minutes. I think part of the problem is that in my mind, I told myself I would worry about the diet this week and then start the exercising next week. Even though I planned it that way, I really should find ways to get a bit of a start now. Hmm...we will have to try again tomorrow.

Statistics
Weight/Goal: 196/148
Pounds Lost to Date: 2

Weighed in at WW tonight and that is what their scale says as well. So, it seems like I am sitting at 2 pounds lost. Again...better get exercising.

Breakfast (3.5 points on WW):
Yogurt (low fat, strawberry)
1/4 c. Post Grape Nuts Cereal (mixed in the cereal)

Lunch (5 points on WW)
1 serving of baby carrots
1 clementine
Yogurt (low fat, strawberry)
1/4 c. Post Grape Nuts Cereal (mixed in the cereal)

Dinner (12.5 points on WW)
2 eggs
4 oz of lean ham
onion
green pepper
2 tsp olive oil
plain bagel

Snack (3 points)
10 M&Ms
4 small graham crackers


Total WW Points Eaten Today
24 (first time I have eaten all my daily allowance points)

Water
8+ Glasses (still sloshing! )

I almost skipped breakfast this morning, blame all the stupid snow we get here in Minnesota, but I decided to grab the yogurt, dump in the cereal and then go. It was a good choice because I really am able to feel full until lunch when I eat it. As you can see, lunch was not the best today. I really needed to have a more balanced day but I did not have much time to pack a lunch today. When it snows bad I have drive both of my kids to school and this means that there is about 25 less minutes for me in the morning. I just kind of did a little bit of a grab something that I know will not send me over in points sort of deal. Supper was really good tonight. I put the olive oil in the pan, added the veggies and then added the eggs. At the last minute I added the ham to heat that a bit. All of the scrambled up egg mixture and a plain toasted bagel was really great. Finally, my snack was oh so satisfying tonight. As you may have read in one of my responses...I had some M&Ms tonight! I was so happy to pull out the big bag...count out 10...put the big bag back in the way back of the cupboard...and then just sit and really enjoy my M&Ms. I truly was amazed that they tasted so great and that I really did not feel like I needed more when I was done. I have decided that I will not have M&Ms every night but when I am really craving them, I am not going to deny myself. I am just going to be sure that I eat just the few that I need to satisfy the craving.

Exercising
I think I have said enough about this topic...I am not going to dwell on it. I will try to get to it but if I do not start until Monday (like I told myself I would)...that is okay.

Today's Challenge
The snow. I almost grabbed high point bad food for my lunch because I did not have much time. I was happy that I took one moment and thought how silly it would be when I knew that I could do one extra yogurt today. The snow also made me really late coming home and I almost missed my WW meeting. This was my first one so I would have been a bit disappointed. I did make it though and so I was happy that I went.

Today's Success
Eating 10 M&Ms. Reflecting on it made me realize that I don't crave them as bad as I thought. When I know that I have control enough to eat just 10 and put them away they are not as "forbidden" as I thought they were. I really enjoyed every ounce of chocolate as I had it and I was really totally fine when they were gone. I think my biggest success is simply the realization of how I feel about food - learning to be satisfied with little things is a great thing!

My day is done and it is time to get a good night's sleep...happy days to everyone!

Jen

 

[TxRabbit]

I love having breakfast for dinner!

I pack a lunch for DH to take to work. More than lunch even, because his work day is so long, snacks, etc., I have a whole system of dedicated containers worked out for entrees, sides, salads, snacks, etc. I try to pack the containers the evening before when I am dealing with leftovers from dinner. It doesn't add much time to the process and it makes my mornings easier. Your lunch is so simple, it would be easy to pack each evening. Then you would be prepared whether or not there was snow.

And way to go! not letting the snow situation mess up your eating for the day!! It's these things, snow, messy kitchens (LOL) that test how commited we are to living healthier! You do it! You dealt with it! That's a GREAT accomplishment.