It isn't rainy days and Mondays that get me off track; try holiday parties, baking for gifts, etc. I love to bake and do things in the kitchen -- and in the last year or so I have enjoyed the culinary experience so much. But right now, it is my bugaboo.
Okay, first, the holiday parties................ Last Saturday evening was our company's Christmas dinner. Let me just say that I am so glad to (a) be working and (b) work for a company that does nice things like this. We had a blast. There was a cheese and cracker station..... a good Brie is just irresistible. Add some cranberries, walnuts, pecans, and other cheeses and fig preserves and pear jam........ Oh my. I sampled -- since after all, I do have 35 points to use. Then I couldn't decide between the pasta station or the carving station. I love good pasta. But I love good roast beef too. I chose to forgo the pasta and enjoy a good salad, a slab of roast beef and even some potatoes au gratin. Yeah, I know: that's one of the restaurant "watchwords." Well, I watched a small spoonful go onto my plate, then onto my fork, and into my mouth. They were indeed tasty, and I didn't regret choosing that over the pasta.
Then Satan appeared -- in the form of a dessert table. And for the first time in quite a long time, I indulged. I had a slice of this OMGTDF chocolate cheesecake. And about 90 minutes later I went back for a slab of yule log dessert. In the meantime, I also drank water like a camel and had 4 cups of coffee. One of the lessons learned is that I can't eat the rich stuff that I used to eat. HOO BOY. It was like my stomach said, "Well, I hope you enjoyed your little adventure into Rich Food Land. I want to make sure you remember what this kind of stuff does to me......"
One of my leaders defined hunger-satisfaction-stuffing as this: "Hunger is a dried up balloon that's forty days old and all run over, it's puny. Satisfaction is the Wal-Mart smiley face balloon. Stuffing is when you feel you can now be part of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade." She was dead on with that. I was somewhere in between Wal-Mart and Macy's (ha... just like my wallet). Only my stomach was closer to Macy's, whereas my wallet is almost always closer to Wal-Mart.
Sunday -- no time for anything. Church, home, lunch.... oh yeah. Lunch. We went to Beef O'Brady's for a quick meal before our choral concert. Instead of my usual salad, I ordered the grilled chicken dinner, with broccoli and mashed potatoes. I knew I'd take part of the chicken home with me, and I figured part of the mashed potatoes. Uh.... I took home a piece of chicken. The broccoli was no trouble, but I had no intention of eating all the potatoes. You know what they say about intentions and the road to hell, don'tcha? I also had a cup of their vegetable beef -- good and tasty but WAY too salty. After lunch, it was my choir concert and a little gathering afterwards. A couple of cookies were the damage there. Dinner that night at home was vegetable soup and grilled cheese. I even used reduced fat cheddar. So I'm betting the damage wasn't as bad as it might have been.
Why the guesswork on that? Because I didn't properly track either day. For me, that is highly unusual. Lately, I've been using Weight Watcher's e-Tools to track and later going back to put my foods in pen and ink, I just didn't track at all for Saturday night or all day Sunday. That ended Monday morning; I have to track or it doesn't work. None of us really enjoy seeing the wages of our sins, but sometimes we have to know the cost.
What did it cost me? About an extra 3 pounds that I'm working off. I know some of that is water retention, but some was the "just don't care" attitude. I have 15 days until the next weigh-in phase begins (on January 2). I really have about another 5 beyond that, but I don't like playing with the calendar that way.
So what did I learn from all this?
1. Enjoy the occasional indulgence but be prepared to pay.
2. Track anyway. It's honesty.
3. Keep practicing healthy habits. I was proud of myself for getting up early and making time for some good workouts. I could have rolled over and hit that snooze bar (and this week it would have been ALL too easy!). I still got in my healthy foods along with the not-so-good choices.
And sorry for the delays in the posting: a little shopping Monday night, more shopping and baking Tuesday, choir practice last night...... I swanney, I need either 4 more hours in the day just for ME ..... or a Guy Friday to do my bidding. Ooh. Why not both? :D
The rest of the week has gone fairly well. I even made healthier foods for our gift exchange. Of course, everyone has brought in cookies and stuff. I am trying really hard to stay "good."
Okay, first, the holiday parties................ Last Saturday evening was our company's Christmas dinner. Let me just say that I am so glad to (a) be working and (b) work for a company that does nice things like this. We had a blast. There was a cheese and cracker station..... a good Brie is just irresistible. Add some cranberries, walnuts, pecans, and other cheeses and fig preserves and pear jam........ Oh my. I sampled -- since after all, I do have 35 points to use. Then I couldn't decide between the pasta station or the carving station. I love good pasta. But I love good roast beef too. I chose to forgo the pasta and enjoy a good salad, a slab of roast beef and even some potatoes au gratin. Yeah, I know: that's one of the restaurant "watchwords." Well, I watched a small spoonful go onto my plate, then onto my fork, and into my mouth. They were indeed tasty, and I didn't regret choosing that over the pasta.
Then Satan appeared -- in the form of a dessert table. And for the first time in quite a long time, I indulged. I had a slice of this OMGTDF chocolate cheesecake. And about 90 minutes later I went back for a slab of yule log dessert. In the meantime, I also drank water like a camel and had 4 cups of coffee. One of the lessons learned is that I can't eat the rich stuff that I used to eat. HOO BOY. It was like my stomach said, "Well, I hope you enjoyed your little adventure into Rich Food Land. I want to make sure you remember what this kind of stuff does to me......"
One of my leaders defined hunger-satisfaction-stuffing as this: "Hunger is a dried up balloon that's forty days old and all run over, it's puny. Satisfaction is the Wal-Mart smiley face balloon. Stuffing is when you feel you can now be part of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade." She was dead on with that. I was somewhere in between Wal-Mart and Macy's (ha... just like my wallet). Only my stomach was closer to Macy's, whereas my wallet is almost always closer to Wal-Mart.
Sunday -- no time for anything. Church, home, lunch.... oh yeah. Lunch. We went to Beef O'Brady's for a quick meal before our choral concert. Instead of my usual salad, I ordered the grilled chicken dinner, with broccoli and mashed potatoes. I knew I'd take part of the chicken home with me, and I figured part of the mashed potatoes. Uh.... I took home a piece of chicken. The broccoli was no trouble, but I had no intention of eating all the potatoes. You know what they say about intentions and the road to hell, don'tcha? I also had a cup of their vegetable beef -- good and tasty but WAY too salty. After lunch, it was my choir concert and a little gathering afterwards. A couple of cookies were the damage there. Dinner that night at home was vegetable soup and grilled cheese. I even used reduced fat cheddar. So I'm betting the damage wasn't as bad as it might have been.
Why the guesswork on that? Because I didn't properly track either day. For me, that is highly unusual. Lately, I've been using Weight Watcher's e-Tools to track and later going back to put my foods in pen and ink, I just didn't track at all for Saturday night or all day Sunday. That ended Monday morning; I have to track or it doesn't work. None of us really enjoy seeing the wages of our sins, but sometimes we have to know the cost.
What did it cost me? About an extra 3 pounds that I'm working off. I know some of that is water retention, but some was the "just don't care" attitude. I have 15 days until the next weigh-in phase begins (on January 2). I really have about another 5 beyond that, but I don't like playing with the calendar that way.
So what did I learn from all this?
1. Enjoy the occasional indulgence but be prepared to pay.
2. Track anyway. It's honesty.
3. Keep practicing healthy habits. I was proud of myself for getting up early and making time for some good workouts. I could have rolled over and hit that snooze bar (and this week it would have been ALL too easy!). I still got in my healthy foods along with the not-so-good choices.
And sorry for the delays in the posting: a little shopping Monday night, more shopping and baking Tuesday, choir practice last night...... I swanney, I need either 4 more hours in the day just for ME ..... or a Guy Friday to do my bidding. Ooh. Why not both? :D
The rest of the week has gone fairly well. I even made healthier foods for our gift exchange. Of course, everyone has brought in cookies and stuff. I am trying really hard to stay "good."
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