Just Say No!

So, no 50 yet. Not even close. Reverse actually. I'm at 46 currently. Grr! I need to JUST SAY NO to candy, cookies, etc. and eating when I'm not hungry. This should be so obvious to me, but has become a MAJOR struggle for me lately for some reason! Coupled with that, I haven't been getting up to exercise in the mornings either. I'm going to focus hard on my motivation this week, but any tips for keeping strong against temptation are certainly welcome!!

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The good: Today I resisted cinnabon muffins, got cupcakes at Coldstone for my husband's birthday (knowing it would help with portion control over getting a whole cake), resisted getting something to eat while running errands on my lunch break (had lunch waiting at work in the fridge), and resisted getting some yummy butterscotch pudding ice cream while getting his cupcakes!

The bad: I had nachos after my unsatisfying lunch. I held out for nearly 2 hours of tempation, but in the end, I lost. Though they were good.

The ugly: We got Mexican for my husband's birthday dinner, and I ate the chips and queso even though I wasn't planning on it. And then I ate a Coldstone cupcake. And then I ate my son's unfinished one.

I have been struggling so much lately! I am still getting a lot of compliments, but weigh the same that I did 6 weeks ago, before I had that crazy vacation binge. I'm resolving to do better. I'm resolving to using my Wii Fit. I think I'll go do that now. It may just be for 10 minutes, but it's a start. Here I go!

Uh oh.

I said I wouldn't overdo it at the fest last night. I did a little. I had a Po Dog, Ribbon Fries (w/cheese), and Apple Slices with Carmel. I didn't think I was overdoing it so much, especially when I saw all the other delicious things I could have had. But, when I started doing some research to find out how many points I ate, I came up with 33. That's more than my daily limit! YIKES!

We went out for brunch this morning before tackling the other half of the festival, and I was going to have banana crepes, for about 10 points. Instead I was surprised by the brunch buffet and ate way too much for way too many points. I don't have any idea how many I ate, but it may tie with last night (though for a lot more food). The good news is that was one meal for two meals, and then we walked and walked and walked after that.

I'll try to squeeze in some Wii Fit or a bike ride this evening after a nap. I have one more splurge tomorrow night, we're having pizza for dinner. But, I may get mine sans cheese. I've found I actually like it that way. :) Tonight's dinner will probably be soup and salad (it's like 60 degrees here today--feels like fall), so we can keep the points low to make up for breakfast.

I'm sure I'll have no problem staying on track most of Monday, and Tuesday and Wednesday, but we do have a work potluck Thursday. Hopefully with proper planning and being mindful of Friday's weigh in I can minimize the damage of this weekend. :)

Mind vs. Stomach -- Round 2

I am excited that my Friday and Saturday have been better than the last couple and hope that I can keep it up and see the results on the scale this week! I was nervous about going over my points at dinner tonight. I still have 25 flex points, but wasn't wanting to use them up so quickly, even though that's what I've been doing, and then some, likely! But, I ate dinner AND still have 3 points left. The biggest factor in this--I stopped when I was satisfied. That may honestly be the first time I've done that intentionally! WOO HOO! An impromptu battle of mind vs. stomach, and the mind wins!!!!!!!!!!!

This is my eats today:

Breakfast (after 10 hours of nyquil induced sleep/coma): 100 calorie pack of Lorna Doons=2 pt. and 1 string cheese=1 pt.; not the breakfast of champions but I bought the cookies two weeks ago and hadn't had any yet, was DEFINITELY not cooking (stupid summer cold), and it was almost 9 in the morning, so I knew lunch wasn't too far off. It sufficed, suprisingly. I went grocery shopping (another success--$75 under budget), and had no snack in there even!

Lunch: Burger King Tendergrill, with no mayo and onions added (put my own mayo on at home)=7 pt.; 1/2 of large fries (shared with hubby): 7 pt. Whoa! But, worth it. At least I didn't get burger. :)

After nap snack (Don't even get me started on this nap. The 5 year old did not cooperate, and sleep is what makes my colds go away, so it was a battle of wills! I napped, he didn't.): Sugar Cone with Turkey Hill Peanut Butter Mania Ice Cream (the absolute BEST ice cream EVER)=4 pt.

Dinner: I made homemade pizzas using Wheat premade crusts from Meijer. They're square and that's the only place I've seen them. It's 12 pt. for the whole crust. One pizza I made with bbq sauce, canned chicken, and fat free cheddar and mozzarella. I mixed 1 T. of the bbq with the chicken, spread 6 T. on the crust, topped the crust with the chicken, some dried cilantro, and onion on my half. I topped it with 1/4 c. ff mozzarella shreds and 1/4 c. ff cheddar shreds. It was 26 points for the whole pizza. I had two squares=4 points. The other pizza I just cut up two garden tomatoes, sprinkled that with EVOO, 2 cloves fresh garlic, salt, pepper, basil, and mixed it up and slathered it on. I topped it with 3/4 c. ff mozzarella cheese. I had two pieces=2 points!

So, if my math is correct, I have 3 points left still! Whoa! Cool! Maybe I'll use them for some skim milk. We definitely don't drink our milk in this house. When I got home with a 1/2 gallon each of 2% and skim, I threw away a whole 1/2 gal of skim that was expired and 3/4 of a gallon of 2% that was expired. Geesh! I just can't STAND drinking my points. Before WW, we could do a gallon a week. So, since I did good and got my healthy oil in today (the EVOO), maybe I'll do extra good and get my milk in too. Although, it will have sugar free chocolate syrup in it. :)

Word to the wise...

Doing WW just four days a week does not work. I've tried it for two weeks now, and have gained 1.2 lb. Since switching my weigh day to Friday, I have pretty much eaten how I wanted Fri, Sat, and Sun (see previous post on mind vs. stomach), and tried to get back on track M-Th. Like I said, this doesn't work. I don't recommend it.

Today I did better. I woke up with a full blown cold, so my appetite today varied from ravenous to none at all. I used 10 of my flex points, which seems like a lot to me, but I bet compared to the last two weeks it wasn't. I have Chinese food to thank for that. I forgot to substitute white rice for the fried (but ate it anyway), and always eat my eggroll, it's the best part. But, at least I didn't get General Tso's, which was calling my name for it's sinus clearing abilities, but I believe comes in at 10 pts. per cup! I did good last night at the State Fair too, and didn't eat any fair food. But I did have a chili cheese wrap and tots from Sonic before I went. :)

Let's hope I can stay on track tomorrow and Sunday! I am already way ahead of the last two Fridays, as I actually kept track of points today!

Mind vs. Stomach -- Round 1

My biggest struggle in doing WW is eating out. I eat out a lot less than I used to, but when I do, I still have a hard time making wise choices and going for the healthier options on the menu. It's something I realize, which is a step in the right direction, but am still having a hard time making the connection work between my brain and my stomach. Points are usually pretty easy to manage when I'm eating at work and home like normal. Take yesterday for example:

Breakfast: Turkey Slices on WW bagel with FF Mayo: 3 points
Baked Doritos (indiv. bag): 2 points

Snack: 94% Fat Free popcorn (ate almost the whole bag--not so great with portion control either, that's why I like individual packs so much better, but for this snack it's okay!): 1 point

Lunch: Green Beans with a Turkey Smoked Sausage (leftover): 3 points
Watermelon: 1 point

So, I headed home from work with 20 points left for the day! AMAZING! I normally have between 11-14 left at that point. This would have been a great day to have dinner out or order in, but I knew I'd be doing that for dinner tonight and tomorrow night.

I still managed to eat all of my remaining points though...
Dinner: 2 Quesadilla Burgers (3 pt. turkey burger with taco seasoning; pico de gallo; lettuce; onion; avocado in a flat out wrap with FF sour cream and RF cheese): 10 points total
Baked Tostitos, Salsa, and the remaining avocodo: 6 points

Bedtime Snack: 1/2 Fat Carmel Ice Cream

I totally could have survived and been satisfied with only having 1 burger. I really wasn't hungry for the ice cream either. I think both overindulgences were because I could. I had the points. Like I said, making that connection between the brain and the stomach is hard!

Anyway, then take today for instance:
Breakfast: Fiber One Shredded Wheat: 3 points

Snack: Sugar Snap Peas: 0 Points
Fiber Bar: 2 Points

Lunch: Leftover Turkey Burger & Chips: 6 points
Watermelon: 1 Point

So, just about on par with yesterday. 18 points left, which is still pretty good, but I like to save 20 if I'm going out to eat. My son picked Arby's. I went for their 5 for $5.95 deal. Cheesesticks for kid (his reason for wanting to go there), plus chicken nuggets and applesauce for him. I ordered the Arby's melt (one of the best options there), the value fry (kid sized), a value diet coke (again, kid sized), but what now...I still had one thing left to buy. I added the ham and swiss melt, thinking I'd toss it in the fridge for hubby's lunch tomorrow.

Wrong. I actually ate some of it. And one of R's cheesesticks. And two of his nuggets. RIDICULOUS! Mind vs. stomach totally. I wanted to eat the food food food, but my mind was saying just don't do it. I felt ridiculous battling with myself, but ate it anyway (some of it).

Afterwards I went to the Arby's site and added up my points, and went 2 over. I was suprised that I didn't do worse, but if I would have stuck to my original meal I would have had several points left for the day. So, it was a start of my attack on mind vs. stomach--I didn't order the first thing that would have jumped out at me on the menu as delicious, didn't go for huge fries, didn't get any onion petals or potato cakes either. But, I did dip into that extra sandwich and R's meal. Lame-o. One thing I've seen for sure on other's blogs is we all struggle with this.

The winner of this round of mind vs. stomach--I call it a tie. I didn't eat the other 1/2 of R's ice cream sandwich, and I didn't eat any of the nuggets he had left. We're getting there!