Main Blog Updated: Making a Strategy for The Weekend Temptations in a Week of Cravings...until my Uber Food Poise Mojo Returns...Making a Strategy for The Weekend Temptations in a Week of Cravings...until my Uber Food Poise Mojo Returns...

Making a Strategy for The Weekend Temptations in a Week of Cravings...until my Uber Food Poise Mojo Returns...

Main Blog Updated: Terrific Quote From a Smart Blogger, organic share pick-up day--and a coop recommendation for South Florida peops--plus assorted pics from Saturday's "Dali Miami" outing, and sort of not "there" yet where I need to be on "get recommitted" week...but I will get there...

Terrific Quote From a Smart Blogger, organic share pick-up day--and a coop recommendation for South Florida peops--plus assorted pics from Saturday's "Dali Miami" outing, and sort of not "there" yet where I need to be on "get recommitted" week...but I will get there...

The Tapas won...and so did Taco Bell....new blog updated

Okay, so yesterday, the beast rose up again in my brain. Read about it here. Fortunately, a smaller beast than in many times past, but I want the halcyon appetite BACK!

Please change your links or "follow" to my new blog:

Two Years to Happy Weight After

Balancing Big Meal with Small Ones Helps...Duh, right? :)

Hanging in there. Had a few dinners out with hubby which presented temptations and challenges, but I've gotten better at doing that balancing act: if one meal is higher in calories, compensate with the other meals that day.

So, when I had the big Italian dinner out (very sumptuous wild mushroom and truffle oil fettucine with parmesan, bruschetta with tomatoes/olive tapenade/sauteed mushrooms, a meatball sample, wine, and hubby and split a gelato with chocolate sauce), I simply had two high-protein, low cal meals for the rest of that day (one protein hot chocolate, one protein oatmeal and egg), and registered no gain. Another dinner out, same thing....just was very cautious the rest of the day. No gain.

I haven't been eating low enough since Friday to really make for significant loss, but I did make it to 258.0 today, so it's 41 pounds gone.

I'll take it.

I haven't gone shopping, so I have NO fruit and NO salad fixings in the house (though I do have leftover salad from yesterday's Middle Eastern supper we had--for me, Chicken Shawarma with basmati and fatoush without the pita as per my request, carrot soup). So, I'm hoping it won't be a big rainy day so I can get some healthful produce.

I do find that the WonderSlim Hot Cakes and Hot Chocolate (especially the raspberry one) have been great hunger stopgappers for me. They give me a sense of luxurythat has been satisfying and useful. The hotcakes with sugar free syrup or some frozen strawberry heated and dumped on top accompanied by scrambled eggs has been my fave breakfast for the last two weeks. Easy, fast and lots of protein. I just need to get the spinach, mushroom, zucchini, etc that I like to add to my eggs. The hot chocolate with some low-carb biscotti just feels like a nice dessert or late night snack to curtail binge inclinations. It can satisfy the raging of a sweet tooth.

Anyway, as long as the direction is downward, even if snail-slow, I'm happy. :)

So, here's to another week of fatfighting...

MILESTONE: Lost 40 Pounds, finally!

Okay, I thought yesterday was Sunday. hahahahha. I got ahead of myself with the SUMMER SLIMMIN' CHALLENGE check-in.

But that's fine. At least I did check in.

Today, I hit a milestone I've been so looking forward to. I've lost 40 pounds. Yay.

I weighed in at 258.6.

So, 40.4 pounds to be exact.

The extra protein is totally helping.

Today, hubby wanted a burrito, so we did a LIME takeout. I was afraid I'd do my bingey thing like I usually do with Italian or Mexican (my two major bingey fave cuisines). Nope. I ate a good amount of the lower carb South Beach beef burrito I ordered. But I didn't finish it. This is a RARE occurrence, having leftover burrito. Me loves burrito!!!

I left about 1/4th, which I wrapped for a leftover snack. I didn't finish the guacamole (I usually do) or the salsa (I usually do) and I didn't have a single tortilla chip. I had a few mouthfuls of refried beans, and have plenty for high fiber snacking.

Really happy I didn't go nuts.

Hoping my last two SS Challenge weigh-ins are satisfying ones.

This is a new week. Let's be very good to our bodies....

The Sleep Factor, Confirmed Yet Again and Today's Food

I think a couple of times in the past three years, I've posted about how I do better on the scale when I sleep well and sufficiently (ie, 8+ hours). I find that the combination of morbid obesity and peri-and-menopause had caused me to have BAD SLEEP, when prior to this combo, I tended to sleep easily and well. Not so the last couple years. Sleep apnea and hormonal chaos really did a job on my ability to sleep deeply and adequately and, really, at any time. I used to be able to nap like a cat--at will.

But I had a lovely catch-up on lost sleep and the scale was nice for a peek weigh-in: 261.0   New low...again.

I hope I can somehow get my sleep back on track, but that usually means back to "vampire time" (ie sleeping days, awake nights), but I don't want to do that. I'm struggling to stay on daylight hours, but this makes life so much easier, if not Zs.

I had breakfast of pomodoro omelette (Diet To Go version), which is a high protein egg mixture firmly cooked with a creamy spinach and marinara sort of sauce combo with some asparagus on side. I cooked up a bunch of spinach with EVOO to up my veggie count and had some coconut water and coffee. Oh, and a slice of rye toast with Smart Balance spread. I had three pieces of avocado sushi with wasabi and pickled ginger for a snack.

For my next meal, I ordered vegetable pad thai with steamed veggies side order (cabbage, carrots, pea pods broccoli, squash). Hubby wanted cashew chicken (which he ate for early supper), and my pad thai is waiting for nuking when I'm hungry.

Well, a LATE update :) Some bad, some good--but there is a loss!

Dang, time flies. It's been 9 days since I posted? How can that be? It sure feels like a lot fewer days.

It was a very busy weekend due to activities with family and hubby's birthday celebrations--which began on Friday the 25th. He has World Cup fever and I have been dragged into it, somewhat. I was rooting for the US and for Japan, and both are out. So, bummer.

Summer Slimming stuff:

Food: The weekend was a bust. All the birthday yummies (though I had no cake and toned down my passion for bready things). I did have a bad patch with my rotten, hyperreactive immune system and had to go to the doc to get some steroids in me. I'm much better, but I always worry when steroids come into play, as they tend to send my appetite into crazy trajectories. However, I had stocked up on a lot of good, diet-friendly stuff

I have been sporadically on and off the scale, and Sunday (the challenge weigh-in day) showed an uptick (lots and lots of salt will do that) to 264.8. It got worse going to 266.4, which scared me back to my water drinking, I can tell you.

Today, it was a favorable weigh-in: 261.4  

That's a new low recording for this blog. That's lower than what I was in Christmas of 2002.

That's 37.6 pounds off since my high in 2004. That's 27.6 off since I began this blog.

Amazing what getting back to fruit and water will do to debloat. And that's even having soy sauce, as we had an Asian fusion dinner that was a Japanese version of "fajitas"--jasmine rice, hibachi steak in soy butter, sliced portabello mushroom, a really delicious guacamole (just about a tablespoon's worth, sadly), and alo tempura veggies (yes, FRIED onions, broccoli, peppers, and sweet potato), steamed pork gyoza with a soy-based sauce for dipping.  Then Valrhona dark chocolate. Hardly a tiny supper or a challenge-friendly one, but I'd been discreet with breakfast and lunch. I guess it balanced out. Hubby and I split the pricey steak dinner, so I got about 2 ounces of the steak, all the mushroom, less than a cup of rice, and that tablespoon of heavenly guacamole. I had ALL the gyoza (five dumplings) and more than half of the tempura veggies (he only likes the onion and broccoli bits).

I exercised three days last week (as opposed to my usual two). The third was cardio and some walking. Not much, but some. Wanted to go to the pool, but the heat and pollens are making me ill, literally, so I'm hiding indoors.

Water has been iffy. Some days okay, some not. Still not an ingrained good habit there.

I haven't been supportive--sorry, as I've barely been on here. Will try to rectify in the coming days.

So, a setback, but I'm getting back on the horse and hope the holiday weekend isn't another roadblock. Must plan. Must plan. :D

Happy weekend and Independence Day to all the fatfighters out there!

Summer Slimmin' Challenge Update: Hey, eating is good! Sleeping is not :(

I didn't sleep enough two days' running, so I crashed and took a nap from 5 to 7:30 this PM. I still feel out of it, but at least I'm not feeling that zombie-sleepy sort of thing.

I need to upload my last few meals (ie, lunch and supper yesterday and lunch today.) I'm doing fine. Had to miss breakfast (which I hardly ever do) cause I had some fasting labwork done at 1:15pm. There's a market a few steps from the lab, so I popped in and got some nice pre-cooked foods: ratatouille, balsamic tomatoes with basil, spinach with orzo, spaghetti squash, cucumber salad, vegetable barley soup, vegetarian lentil soup, curried chicken salad, and a couple of pork chops for hubby with mashies.

I came home famished and had 4 cups of mixed lettuces with a cup of the curried chicken salad. I also had a cup of lentil soup--very diet-friendly with no oil/fat, just a very translucent broth and nice firm lentils with a sprinkling of carrots and celery and onion. It's bland, but oddly comforting. I logged everything on  Sparkpeople: 636 calories.

I still haven't had "lunch", but might combine dinner and lunch since it's already almost 8.

No exercise--I admit, I still feel lethargic. Missing sleep is a bad idea all around, knocked me off my game. I felt great and energetic yesterday despite the record heat. Today, I feel mucky.

I commented on the challenge blogs that had updates as of 7:50pm.

I'm gonna have some (lots of) water and tea before deciding what to eat, and I'll check in later. Mebbe. :)

One Nice Step Forward, One Small Step Back, and Redeeming Poor Choices

Well, I had another happy weigh-in this morning: 268.0

So, about a half-pound less than the day before. I'm firmly in this "decade", hooray.

But it was a family get-together, and I had 4 hours sleep. Not a good combo. When I feel tired, my brain interprets it as: hungry.

I was in a rush (hairdresser appt way down south, a 45 min drive), so I had a small breakfast (I had to eat SOMETHING). I didn't have time to make my veggies or any other fruit than a quickly scarfed orange. I took protein mix to have mid-afternoon to ward off a binge.

Unfortunately, I made some bad choices, but not as bad as I normally would have. I only took a couple bites of the dessert, though I wanted it ALL.

When I tallied my calories (in a notebook, as I was away from a puter for tracking), I knew I only had a couple hundred calories left for dinner. Trouble.

So, I made a smart decision. Not to skip dinner, but to have a lighter one. I was afraid if I tried skipping or just having fruit or another protein mix, I'd set myself up for a late night binge.

I stopped at Chicken Kitchen and got grilled chicken breast on a garden salad. I carefully measured out 2 TBSP Italian dressing and mixed in lemon juice to expand. I used lots of pepper for flavor. And I ate that huge salad, which wasn't a lot of calories. Because I still had a yen for something sweet (due to that taste of cake), I had a sugar free vanilla Jello for 60 calories.

In the end, I went over 200 cals of my target. Not too bad, really. I stopped and made conscious choices rather than "going with the food flow" and blowing my calories all to hell. I'll pat myself on the back for that.

It's a lesson: It's never too late to stop, think, plan, and make adjustments in order to minimize damage. A day is not done until you hit the sack.

But, okay, I didn't exercise and I'm too pooped now to do it.

Tomorrow, Pilates and another day to do better with food choices and movement. :)

I still feel very good and full of hope....

CHICKEN KITCHEN: POST YOUR DANG NUTRITIONAL FACTS ALREADY!

It really annoys the princess poop outta me when large food franchises bother to put up their snazzy lil websites and leave out nutritional facts.

We had Chicken Kitchen chop-chops for lunch (I left our 1/3 of the yellow rice on mine), but I could not find nutritional info on this online, except for an incomplete one on a calorie site.

Hey, Chicken Kitchen, get on the fricken ball. Give us the nutritional label type of breakdowns for your menu items. If you really want to be helpful, put WW points on 'em, too. How about it?

The Princess commands...

(Now, on the off chance that I'm a total doof and missed it on their site, do check it out and tell me if I missed it. Heh.)

Schizo Eating: KFC Tender Grilled is Nummy and VEGGIEMUNN Corn and Leek Chowder is amazing!

I had lunch for breakfast (went to bed at 7 am and slept until 11:30 am). I woke up with a KFC craving. So, I got dressed and went and bought the white meat tender grilled chicken. I had cole slaw, mashies, and three green bean sides with that. Yeah, 3 green bean sides. I have to admit, I like their grilled chicken better than the fried. I remember when they previously had--years ago--tender roast (which was the one my hubby used to get). That didn't last. Once they stopped carrying the roast chicken, hubby didn't want it, so we avoided KFC. For years, we didn't go to KFC but, maybe, once in a blue moon when I got the urge for some fried chicken and biscuits.

We still don't eat there often. Just got this weird craving. So, there ya go. I'll probably bloat.

To make up for a fast food breakfast, I had a raw lunch. An organic apple with organic peanut butter, an apple-raisin cookie, strawberries. The cookies are sort of a square-shaped, moist melange of sunflower seeds, dates, raisins, bananas, vanilla, agave, walnuts, cinnamon, and, natch, apples. I ordered them fresh-made, delivered Monday by VEGGIEMUNN, a raw food purveyor in South Florida. If you're gonna have cookies, these are wholesome--and whole. And really tasty. Sort of like an apple-banana bread, really, but flatter and chewier. :D

I gotta give kudos to VEGGIEMUNN for killer yummy raw corn and leek chowder. This is one of my fave soups they make (along with the pear watercress and the asparagus). The raw barley and mushroom is okay, and I got several this week for the barley fill-er-up and fiber properties and the earthy mushroom allure, but now I wish I had gotten a half dozen of the corn and leek. Amazing. Beautiful green color, lovely daikon sprouts on top, creamy, delicious. Here are the ingredients: sprouted sunflower seeds, corn, leek, avocado, agave, coriander, parsley, kelp.

I will be having the mushroom/barley raw soup and the raw plantain pie for dinner. (In case you're curious, the plantain pie's ingredients are ripe plantains, nut cheese & tomatoes, Macadamia Nuts, Cashews, Bragg'S, Lemon Juice, Italian seasoning, basil, garlic. The mushroom barley soup has sprouted barley, shiitake mushroom, white mellow miso, fresh herbs, cold pressed olive oil.)

As you can see, I'm not a totally consistent eater. Certainly, I"m not a raw foodie. But I like having regular vegetarian meals and I enjoy the occasional raw meal. I am a particular fan of some vegan raw soups and desserts. Miami is hot most of the time and cool fruity or veggie-ey soups are very delightful when one is prone to perspire when going outdoors.

Greens and Beans and Another Downward Tick

Oh, good. A scosh better today: 278.6

I much prefer that to the 280's.

Went to Whole Foods last night and got me a lot of greens, some fruit, some meats (pork loin was well-priced and on sale), some ready-to-eat (meatballs, cheese lasagna to split with hubby), some lima bean soup (which I looooove), and Tofu Masala (for my supper tonight). I also have some leftover M'Jadra (lentils and rice with onions and yogurt). So, I have a good amount of food for a few days.

Lovely cold front came in, so it's sweater weather in Miami. I love that. Hope we get lots of cool days before the heat officially sets in.

So much to do in the house, really, that I feel overwhelmed. But I have to just sit down, make a plan, and take it one small step at a time, or I'll get into an ugly state of frustration..which makes me wanna gorge.

Don't wanna gorge.

Pilates in a couple hours, so off I go to start picking out clothes, showering, etc.

I wish you all a healthful Monday and a great work week.

My Biggest Dieter's Mistake and Slacking Off Issue Right Now: Not Cooking

I am totally NOT giving it 100%. I'm not even giving it 80%. Shoot, I'm barely hitting 55%.

And my biggest step backwards, my hugest slack-off, from when I was losing--and even maintaining--is...not doing grocery shopping, meal planning, and home cooking.

Without question, this is my big hurdle to tackle this week. Without this, I might as well admit I'm gonna fail.

I've been back into getting take-out, eating out. This spells disaster. It has. I'm stuck at just nearly 8 pounds from my best during this blog's existence. And it's not budging. I thought I could do it with judicious eating out. I can't.

It got especially bad when I was sick (hey, now there's an excuse to order pizza or have hubb go to the local Mexican restaurant or Kabob place). And as I was coming back home after driving through Taco Bell post Pilates (talk about ruining a good deed with a bad one), I told myself this had to stop. I had to get my cooking mojo back on.

So, I committed to myself to go get groceries either later today (if I can get my second wind, as I feel mighty pooped) or after my ultrasound appointment tomorrow. But no later.

I have to admit. I have NO excuse not to grocery shop and plan and cook meals. It's just plain laziness. It's just bad old habits taking over again.

No. Gotta kick the take-out habit. Trying to regulate it (ie, promising to choose only healthful options) isn't working. I gotta just make my food. I have to control what goes into my meals. I have to turn that stove and oven back on. I have to stock that freezer and fridge and the fruit bowls. Period.

And you know, I'm not the only one who needs to do this. Read this a few minutes ago at Diets in Review:

Since 1965, women have gone from spending 13 hours per week cooking meals to the meager 30 minutes per day now, and in that time the number of overweight women has more than doubled, to 65 percent. Biggest Loser cookbooks author Devin Alexander pointed out that “Twenty minutes in the kitchen will save you three hours on the StairMaster.”

Yes. We've become a nation of eater-outers, not home-cookers. Let's be real. At home, you have to measure out the oil and butter and dressing and cheese and portion the meat and chicken and tofu or whatever. You just don't get this plate, like magic, from the Kitchen Fairy. You can't say, "Well, maybe this mashed potato isn't so bad, or these veggies weren't doused in too much butter." At home, you can't fool yourself. You know exactly what's in there, cause YOU put it in there.

I love to eat out. As I told hubby yesterday, after we left the gynecologist (where he held my hand during the painful exam), when he commented how he likes buffets cause he serves himself (and he has VERY little food at buffets, cause his appetitie is pretty small for a tall feller, and they definitely MAKE money off him, cause he never eats 10 bucks worth!), I like being served. I LOVE having someone bring me yummies and take away dirty plates and ask me if I want coffee and dessert.

It makes me feel like an Empress. Or, okay, a Princess. :)

I think a small part of it's 'cause my parents were not eater-outers. Eating out was this amazing thing to me. I'd see sidewalk cafes in NYC when we visited Manhattan and it was so alien. A thing only special people did. Not poor people like us.

I never sat down in my first Chinese restaurant until I was 16, and that because a friend's dad invited me out to eat with his family. I found it astonishing. And it's the same today. I get this wild thrill at heading to a sit-down restaurant and having whatever my heart desires.

Sit-down restaurants are like small vacations. Drive-throughs are me just not wanting to do any work. Either way, they both are about self-spoiling. For me, anyway. Luxury. Not wisdom or self-control. Indulgence.

My parents never modeled this. This is just ME. Spoiling myself. Acting all rich, right? No...They were homey types, simple folks who worked very hard at low-paying work and who watched pennies like hawks watching field mice. Cooking at home was economical. No takeout, except for a walk to the bakery to get bread. That's what poor folks did and do, especially poor immigrant folks who have a hankering for their ethnic flavors, do. Eat at home.

For me, eating out is a huge luxury. It's what rich people do. What my parents could not do.

It's crazy how much money we waste eating out. Really shameful. We could be putting that towards retirement or paying off our car note. Seriously.

It's a bad economy--a perfect time to figure out how to eat well without spending a fortune. It's a challenge, but not insurmountable. For the $5 or $6 bucks that cafeteria or eat-out turkey sandwich costs plus whatever beverage you get and maybe that bag o' chips, you can make two to four lunches at home (depending on what you eat).

So, the Princess needs to haul her fat butt to Whole Foods and get what she needs for a week of meals. I love eating out too much to nix it altogether. But man, even if I reduce it to once or twice a week, that's better than what I've been doing. Every single dinner and most lunches out. Crazy. Foolish.

Oh, man. Back to the basics.

~

Crazy Mad At Myself

I'm still fighting off the blues, but on top of that, I'm ticked off at myself for not being fully, utterly committed. I still am stuck in that cycle of eating relatively well for two meals and then going nuts during a third.

Usually, the nuts meal is dinner. Yesterday, it was lunch.

I had gotten myself a perfectly adequate turkey and swiss on multigrain sandwich for lunch after my Pilates class--which went well, as I was breathing so much better and could fully exert myself. Here I was, driving home, sandwich in tow, and--boom!-- I get this raging craving for something madly, Chinesely salty. I'm like this possessed person. So, I take a right when I spot a local Chinese eatery and got a takeaway: the pepper steak combo--that diet-destroying thing that comes with fried rice and an egg roll and soup.

Oh, man. I ate it all.

The poor sandwich was relegated to the fridge.

I felt really not great after. I had a hard time waking up, and ended up sleeping 13 hours.

And I woke up bloated and with dark circles under my eyes. I don't normally suffer from dark circles unless I have sinusitis or other nasal allergy flare-up. But I notice that eating a lot of Chinese food (sodium, MSG?) makes me get dark circles. Hmm.

So, I look like crap, feel like crap and am very pissed off at my total lack of self-control.

I don't know what switch in me has to be pushed, but clearly, I am not committed in my will as much as I am in my mind. My mind wakes up deciding to go, my will decides to be a promiscuous food whore.

I am not giving up, but I am wishing there was an easier way to flip that switch and get going on this.

So frustrated. But not surrendering.

~

Tips for Curtailing Take-Out Temptations

I'm a take-out/delivery fiend. It's one of my bad habits. If I prepare food myself, I do so much better than take-out or delivery. Menus have such tempting stuff.

But Chantel Hobbs has this tip for those with a stack of restaurant menus at home:

When ordering take-out, have your favorite menus handy and highlighted with the only selections that fit your nutrition program. When the food arrives, open the containers and take a separate plate and portion out your small meal, put the rest away for later.

I am going to have to take a more radical approach. I'm planning on taking that stack of our fave take-out places and just cutting out or sharpie-ing out all the stuff I MUST NOT HAVE. Leaving only the more healthful options.

If I think that's gonna use up too much of my Sharpie ink-- heh--I may type up a restaurant document in WORD and print it out. It will list the restaurant, address, phone number, and the stuff we SHOULD order (plus my hubby's faves, he of the limited food repertoire, so it's easy). That helps two of my excess problems--eating and clutter.

If you have take-out temptation issues, maybe one of these three options--highlighting the good, blacking out the bad, retyping the take-out info in a document that only gives you sound options--will help.

Happy Tuesday! (She says, still emotional from the inauguration ceremony...)

Review Of Second VEGGIEMUNN Meal

This combo that I had for lunch today included:

o Orange/Fennel Soup - orange, fennel, walnuts, garlic, sea salt, pepper
o Thai Green papaya salad - green papaya, carrots, fresh basil, fresh mint, fresh parsley, lemon, chili pepper, cashews, sesame oil, sesame seeds, sea salt
o Choco piña colada on a stick - pineapple, agave nectar, coconut butter, cacao powder

This was like a sandwich with great bread and disappointing main filler. By that I mean great ends and a bummer middle.

The soup was deliciously refreshing--the brightness of citrus with the savoriness of the garlic and the fennel notes blended to make a chilled soup reminiscent of the freshness of gazpacho, but with a lighter touch. Gazpacho's girlier little sister, let's say. I liked it. (And I adore gazpacho, so it makes sense that anything that reminds me of gazpacho gets a pass.)

The salad, not so successful. I really expected a burst of flavor. In the past, I'd only had green papaya salad twice. It's a strong-flavored dish that really fills your mouth with citrus and some heat and some sweet and some salty and that amazing element of green papaya. This lacked the green papaya power, because it was mostly carrot. And the dressing was too tame to fill the bill. So, what it felt like to my taste buds was a pleasant, if bland, carrot salad. I tried to brush aside the carrot shreds and pick up just dressing, papaya strips and basil--and those couple of forkfuls were more promising. But the salad is just not successful. Green Papaya salad should have green papaya. I felt like I paid $5 for carrot shreds with some underseasoned dressing. Disappointing.

I didn't finish it. And when I went to put the rest away in the fridge, I dropped the container and the contents spilled on the kitchen floor. I didn't mind too much having to toss it, frankly.

Dessert was a nice improvement on the salad. The chocolate coating is very chocolatey and pleasing to this choco-lover. Not too sweet. The pineapple was good (could have been a bit sweeter/riper. I enjoyed this. I would mention that I am not a huge pineapple-with-choco fan. I prefer berries and banana for chocolate dipping. A frozen banana with this chocolate coating and some shredded coconut---mmm. I wish I'd had that. But after the sad salad, this definitely picked up my mood. And the serving was generous--two long cuts of pineapple. It could be divided into dessert for two meals.

Hope you guys had lovely, healthful eatings today!

Now, I can't wait for my avocado sushi, pad thai, and salad with ginger dressing for supper. Hubby's picking it up. After that very light lunch, I need something substantial, and the noodles called to me. If you've never had avocado sushi--I recommend it heartily. So good, that avocado creaminess with pickled ginger, wasabi, and a dip of soy.

Princess Pounds One Dragon Tonight

Well, hubby and I agreed to get Thai (delivered) for supper.

As I was checking the menu for the order, I felt that old, old urge to over-order. I stopped. Took a few breaths. Asked myself if I was in danger ordering.

Yes. The Overeating Ogre was knocking on my door. I thought about the facts: the restaurant portions are huge. Hubby and I do not like the same items. IT's not like we could share. I would, maybe, be too tempted to eat beyond a controlled portion.


I put down the menu. I decided no Thai delivery. Nope.

Hubby and I will make do with home-made, whole wheat pita pizza made with low-fat mozzarella. I can control the cheese on mine. I can control the size (one pita). I can add fruit and veggie to it. I can make iced tea. I can make some soup, if I need an extra bit of volume in the tummy.

Thai would have been delicious, yes, but Thai would have been, I'm sure, a mistake tonight. I was too ready to let the dragonfire consume me.

Princess gets this battle point.
~

Overeating Ogre Attacks: Stuffed Shells and PIzza and Meatballs

I went slightly berserk in the presence of Italian food yesterday.

Why?

I did not follow the sound rules to keep the Overeating Ogre in his lair and away from my house:

~~I didn't drink my glasses of water.
~~I didn't eat my breakfast right off (eggs or otherwise filling options).
~~I didn't plan what to have while brushing my teeth
~~I didn't have my protein snack
~~I didn't focus on fiber

No, I got distracted with stuff and put off eating until I was ravenous: Ogre rising!

And then the take-out demon called my name.

So, okay, instead of four or five slices of veggie pizza, I had three. Instead of two meatballs, I had one. Instead of four stuffed shells, I had two, without the mozza on top.

And then I made sure to go easy on the rest of my eating that day. No more bingeosity.

Today, the scale didn't budge upwards. Yay. But it didn't go down. Aw.

Still, it taught me simply that if I do NOT do what it takes to keep my appetite monster in some sort of nap state, it will rise and take over.

So, how did y'all do this weekend? Stayed on plan? Went berserk? Somewhere in the middle? And how has Monday been faring?

Now, I gotta go drink my whey and two glasses of water. Or you know what beast will awaken!

~