Day 7. Ugh.

I'm not sure how this happens, but somewhere along the last week, the home stretch, I get lazy in my tracking.

Sure it doesn't help that it is a holiday weekend, but any given weekend there is something going on that involves decadent food.

Today, I wasn't completely proud of the choices I made....why did I sit in front of the bowl of jelly beans, pastel malted milk ball, chocolate m&m and plate of coconut bunny cake and Cadbury cream egg brownies? Sigh.

Maybe it was too big of a goal to try to start again before Easter? Or maybe it was a good thing since a almost full week of good choices maybe made up for an Easter weekend. Maybe looking at the big picture is better.

I guess we will see with the next weigh in.....

When you fall off the wagon, how do you get back on?

And with that, I leave you with this:

Day 6. The Kitchen is Closed.

My good friend Sarah declares the kitchen is closed after 7 pm. She does it to help fend off the late night cravings.

My best weapon against late night cravings....

Day 5. Weekend Weakness

For many of us, the weekends, while lovely and a nice time off, are scary when it comes to sticking with a new habit.

At work or during the week there is a certain routine. Whether it is sending our kids off to school or heading out ourselves to work, there is a structure that we make for ourselves and food just naturally falls into place.

How many times have you said to yourself that you can stick to good choices doing the week, but the weekends are hard?

*raising hand*

We started with the basics this week, just writing everything we eat down, no matter what it is. So we are going to continue to do that this weekend, this long weekend, this holiday weekend.

Here are some tips we can do to help us continue that practice:

- Leave your notebook, tracker, tracking device in a visible place, like on the counter, kitchen, or dining room table so you are sure to track.
- Write down what you plan to eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks for the day (or whole weekend) and then check them off as you go.
- if you "cheat" don't beat yourself up, but STILL write it down.
- get sleep. Try not to stay up late just because it is the weekend. We tend to make poorer food choices when we are tired.
- MOVE! If you are bored, get out of the house and find something else to do away from the fridge. And if you go out, bring a healthy snack. If you decide to go to a restaurant, reference yesterday's post. :-)

This has been my weekends of yesteryear.... The trick is to figure it why all the snacking?

Frustrated? Walk it out.
Lonely? Call a friend.
Angry? Talking it out.
Bored? Go out.
Or hungry? Then eat.

Day 4. The Restaurant.

It was bound to happen sooner or later. The time when you are invited out for a meal. Whether it is with your family or your friends, you will be going to a restaurant.

The important thing to remember here is that living is important. This is not a DIEt, but a way of life. Which means that after reaching goal, you still have to live. So why not make the good habits now while we are in losing mode so that during maintaining we don't just go hog wild thinking we an eat whatever we darn well please.

Like yesterday, the key here is to plan. Try to find out the restaurant before you go and see if you an fin energy menu online. If you are already prepared with your meal selection than it will be easier to stick with that choice after the first glass of wine.

Yes, regarding wine. Wine is delicious and helps us relax, but it also lowers our inhibitions making good food choices harder to make. My suggestion, if you go for the wine, also order a water and sip both the whole time. Try to make the glass last.

Other suggestions:
Steer clear of bread and cheese before the meal. If you can, see if they have raw veggies as an appetizer. The chef may gladly make you some. Avoid cream and butter and ask how the meal is prepared. You are the customer and they want you to be happy!

If you are at a heavy portion sized place, ask for a take home container to come with the meal. I've split a burger in half, put one half in the doggie bag and ate the rest. I didn't feel over stuffed, but just right. And I had another decent meal the next day.

Most of all, enjoy yourself and remember this is just one day. If you fall of the wagon, no harm, don't beat yourself up, just get right back on in the morning.

------------

So I wrote all of the above before going out to dinner. I did go online and look up the menu before hand and decided on the broiled scallops. However, I got to the place and did get tempted....

The server at Durgin Park told me about the baked sea scallops with a crab breaking that was just too good to pass up. So I splurged. Sometimes you just have to. I also stuck with one glass of wine and 1/2 of a slice of the most amazing key lime pie. I did not finish all the scallops, but ate till I was full but not overstuffed. The mile walk to the train and the mile walk home helped too. All and all, I would say this was a successful night out. We'll just have to see what the scale says at weigh in next week.....

Day 3. More food.

When I start a new habit (or restart), I often want ideas to help me along the way. Original thinking comes certainly happens, but collaboration is tried and true. Instead of reinventing the wheel, go with something that maybe worked for someone else.

I just ask, that if you do use these ideas or like them, pass them on!

Here is one of my go to easy peaty tasty staples that I eat on salad, with chips or even as a meal itself. And it is really, really easy to make and you only need to get two fresh things from the store and the rest can come from the pantry.

So I would love to say that I ALWAYS eat from the outer aisle, but sometimes that is just not feasible. And sometimes halfway is good enough.

Here are the fresh ingredients you need:

1 small red onion
1 bunch of cilantro

And here are the pantry items:
1 can of black beans
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 can of corn
Newman's own lite lime dressing
Salt
Pepper

Drain the beans and rinse them, drain the corn, drain the tomatoes, chop the onion, chop the cilantro, splash the dressing to taste, (I do a couple tablespoons) dump everything in a container preferably with a lid and shake it up.

That's it.

Smells heavenly, right?

All this of course can be done with fresh ingredients, I like TJ's fresh salsa for example, or real lime and olive oil, but this is the quick and dirty way. Try it and let me know what you think!

Pura vida!

PS. How is the tracking going, you are still tracking with me right? I know Cindy is!

Day 2. The Whiching Hour.

We are about to enter the whiching hour. You know that awful hour when you ask.....

Which should I eat?
Raw peppers or a handful of lucky charms?
Salad, or pb&j?
Water or wine?

For me, after work, when the chaos of post-dinner, pre-bedtime stress happens, good decisions are sooooooo hard to make. When my energy is low, or I'm frustrated and tired, it is hard to make the good food choices. Whiching is a bitch.

So here is my plan. Have a plan.

I am going to make sure I have good choices ready for me in those whiching hour times.

Little snack packs of veggies, bright colored peppers, little baggies of carrots, apples, pears, clementines. That takes care of the snacking, but what about dinner.

The best dinner nights have been when I have prepared meals in advance or I know exactly what is going to be made fresh. And i like to have a meal in my back pocket so the whiching decision isn't ...well....a witch.

My go to meal is trader joe's chicken apple sausage. Stir fry the sausage with apples and onions, add a sweet potato, heated up in the microwave or brown rice or quinoa and you have an instant easy   healthy meal.

Day 1. Bite it, write it.

I started this new job, which is AWESOME, thanks for asking, but in the process of change, transition, yadda yadda, running has taken a detour (not for long with Beach to Beacon on the horizon), eating has been meh (darn you Easter Reese's Eggs!) and there seems to be food around every corner in every kitchen (And there are a lot of kitchens). It would be easier if it wasn't such good food..... wait, why am I complaining????

Anyway, I've added a couple, ok, a few, ok....10lbs I would really like to get back before 10 becomes 15, becomes 20....becomes 70.

AND I have a whole new motivation. I gave some lovely ladies at work a link to TheOuterAisle and after the shock of "OMG I can't imagine you 70 lbs heavier!" (60 at this point, but who is counting but me....) we agreed to keep each other accountable. Accountability is so key. Plus one of the lovelies lets me practice my Spanish with her, so total win-win!

So I'll be emailing them with day one advice, which is simple:

Start small. Write everything down. we eat. I say we because I am totally on this bandwagon.

We bite it, we write it.
We drink it, we ink it.

I don't care how you track.... online, apps, excel, calories, points, pencil and paper. It doesn't matter, just write it down. One day. Write it all down. Don't worry, we'll add more later, but one day, one NEW item today.  And we'll see you back here tomorrow to see how we did.

Pura Vida!

I don't need an app or an appetizer, just a utensil, a writing utensil.