Weekly Weigh-In [12/48]

I apologize for the quiet, random hiatus this past week. It's definitely been a roller coaster of a week as far as emotions go, which unfortunately affected my eating habits terribly. Even though I weighed in this morning at Weight Watchers (it's always important to me to continue to go even when I have bad weeks), I decided not to find out how much I weigh. It's been almost two months since I knew my weight and it's still a freeing concept. Learning to listen to my body instead of judging it based off of a fluctuating number is a different experience. After having a bad week eating-wise, I can definitely that I've gained weight in the past week.

So, this week I'm only giving myself one goal: track my snacks. I've been good about continuing to track my main meals but as far as snacks go, I've been letting myself eat whatever I want. Not good. Now I need to reel myself in and start tracking my snacks even if it means going over my daily points+/calorie allowance because at least I will be aware of what I'm eating as well as how much I'm eating (hopefully).

With that being said, my NSV for the week is that I made it to a spin class today. Despite being utterly exhausted -- no thanks to insomnia -- I'm continuing to make it to gym just about every day (the only day I didn't go was Saturday when I broke a streak of going to the gym for 19 days). Anyways, in sleepy stupor, I still kept to my word from the last two posts and went to a spin class, which I'm glad I attended.

Weekly Weigh-In [11/48]

What a rough week. :( I go from starting off my week really, really well to just letting my emotions control my eating habits for the worse. I allowed myself feed my emotions Sunday, Monday, AND Tuesday night -- all of which I'm really ashamed of myself for doing. But you know what? It's a new week and I'm committing to the things I wrote out yesterday that I plan to do during this hard time. I'm also tacking on a few extra goals for myself...

• Continue going to my Weight Watchers meeting every week to weigh in so I can still hold myself accountable
• Exercise/work-out for at least 30 minutes every day (ideally 45-60 minutes every day)
• Go to a cycling class either this Friday (March 21st), next Wednesday (March 26th), or next Friday (March 28th)
• Do not exceed my 26 daily points+ or my calorie allotment (bad times are not an excuse to overindulge) except for special occasions (like going out with friends/a friend)
• No overspending because, once again, bad times are not an excuse to spread myself thin financially -- it's not a time to treat myself excessively

I'm sure some those things might sound strict but I find that when I'm overemotional due to sadness or depression, I tend to not think very clearly. If I have a list of things written down some place for me to reference, then I find it's easier to stay focused on eating well, exercising abundantly, and staying healthy.

On top of this, I've decided to make one little tweak to my overall diet: I'm going to cut out drinking soda. Mind you, I'm not a huge soda drinker and when I do drink soda, it's only Coke Zero or Sprite Zero. I can usually moderate how much soda I drink on a daily basis but there are times when I start drinking soda excessively and I've hit one of those times. Cutting out soda completely from my diet will be hard, so I'm giving myself a little leeway...

• I'll allow myself one can of soda on Wednesday & Friday nights (or 2 nights/week) as they're available to me
• No more buying soda bottles while I'm out & about at the grocery store, restaurant, etc.
• Buy small cases of bottle water to keep at work so when I'm craving something other than water, I can pop one into the fridge or freezer and add a lemonade or similar flavor packet once it's cold

I've already started working on this mini-goal for the week by buy a pack of bottled water. I also didn't buy a bottle of Coke Zero while I was out at the grocery store on my hour dinner break, hooray! Normally I wouldn't include the task of allowing myself to have a can of soda two nights a week but circumstances are changing (at least for now) and I'll have access to packs of Coke/Sprite Zero cans that I bought months ago. So, the temptation will be around.

Anyways, that about sums up my week. My Non-Scale Victory for the week isn't really something that I've done necessarily but rather a HUGE thank you to the support system I have made up of my friends & family. I really could not get through this journey without my support system, especially when I'm going through a hard time and feeling incredibly down. I cannot be more thankful for all of you. ♥

Troublesome Tuesday

Without going into too much detail, I'm going through a really rough time right now emotionally. I've spent the past two days wallowing in my sadness because society thinks it's okay to do so. But you know what? It's not. The idea of it's okay to overindulge because you're feeling a sad is a toxic concept. It's partially the reason I've had all of this weight to lose in the first place.

Plus, add those two days on top of the overindulging Saturday that I've had and I'm almost afraid to weigh in tomorrow.

So with that being said, I've found that in similar situations in the past, it's helpful to write down clear-cut yet realistic goals to help me focus on the important aspects of my weight loss journey. These goals go into affect today and I need to stick by them for the next few days, weeks, or even months as I'm sure my emotions will only go downhill from here.

• Continue drinking copious amounts of water
• Increase my protein intake by substituting one of my snacks for a Greek yogurt cup
• NO BUYING CHOCOLATE IN LARGE QUANTITIES; I will eat through an entire bag of chocolate if I do, so the most I can buy chocolate is in quantities of three
• Ice cream is okay but only in small cups (whether is eating ice cream out some place or needing a night in to wallow -- Skinny Cow cups are the best)
• Continue working out as usual -- the good news is that I've realized going to the gym is my hobby that can keep me busy for up to 2+ hours (which includes working out and then showering afterwards)
• No buying chips in big bags/with a lot of serving sizes; stick to my "Do Not Buy" list of foods
• ALWAYS grab for a piece of fruit when I think I might be "hungry"
• Tea is my friend; I will drink it at night or whenever I can to help with coping
• On warm days, go on walks outside to soak up natural Vitamin D

I think that about covers most of the important things I want to remember. I'm also thinking about making a playlist of happy songs/music to listen to during walks outside. If anyone has any suggestions for upbeat songs, feel free to leave a comment!

Weekend Wrap-Up 06

I had a really awesome weekend! I ate healthfully, kept myself busy, and hardly overindulged. My only "bad" day was yesterday/last night. Months ago -- before I even created this blog -- I promised myself that I would only use my weekly 49 points for special occasions, like date nights with my boyfriend. Obviously I haven't been keeping that promise to myself but I can say that I successfully did so this weekend.

Although I think I overindulged too much yesterday when my boyfriend & I celebrated our two year anniversary, I'm really pleased that I did great on Thursday & Friday. I'd like to say that I learned a lesson from Saturday night and perhaps I did (lesson: no drink, ever, but I hardly drink as it is now). However, I wouldn't change the fun I had last night anyways. I did my best to honestly track/point um... most... of my food after I drink a bit. I don't plan to drink any time in the near future (and the one drink I do plan on having, I think I'll be the DD for anyways), so I'm not going to plan for this to happen again.

Otherwise, my weekend kept me busy and out of the house. It's amazing how staying busy with a list of to-do items will keep your mind occupied enough to stay away from food. I think that's really the key to my semi-successful weekend. The only downside to keeping myself so busy? No downtime to relax. Yet, I still feel like I had a bit of time to relax on Friday night to unwind, so I can't complain.

Weekly Weigh-In [10/48]

Another week has come & gone, part of it felt very long as I dealt with some personal health issues that I needed to address. (Thankfully nothing to be concerned about right now.) As I mentioned in my Weekend Wrap-Up post, I didn't do very well but I did stick to plan from Sunday through today. Even when I dealt with anxiety and sadness today, I coped with the feelings by getting outside of my work place to get some fresh air. It helps.

Throughout this past week, I admittedly fell behind on the goal(s) I made for myself last week. Coming up with 3-5 things that I liked about myself and/or my body proved to be quite difficult, mostly because my health issues made me feel very down about myself throughout the week. I'm hoping that the emotional roller-coaster I seem to be on goes up sometime during this upcoming week because, well, my mood has no reason not to go up. (As a side, I really am doing well emotionally. I'm in a happy place a majority of the time. It's just a combination of a few things happening in different areas of my life that are bringing me down. It's also raining which isn't helping much.)

Anyways, I thought I'd share some of the things I came up with throughout the week that I like about myself. I don't have the lists in front of me, so these aren't word-for-word but you'll get the idea...

• I used to barely fit into a size 22 for pants but now I wear a size 10/12 (ten sizes down)!
• Even though I'm VERY forgetful, I've learned to cope with this by keeping LOTS of lists
• Exercise has become part of my daily routine these days and I feel weird if I don't get in some sort of activity. I could not be more proud of myself for becoming so active.
• I have a great jaw-line/defined face shape; no more pudgy face these days
• I cope with my anxiety much better these days and have much less anxiety on a daily basis compared to just a few years ago

So that's just a glimpse of some of the things I wrote for the week. I'm really proud of myself for even just remembering to jot down a few things for part of the week when I was feeling more down than usual.

My non-scale victory for the week is that I've portioned out all of the snacks in the house I would easily eat the whole bag. It's not much but when I want to have options around the house, I definitely have to divvy the snacks into smaller portion sizes as soon as possible. So, huzzah for me!

I think I'm only going to make one goal this week to work on: focus on staying on plan during the weekend. I have some plans on Thursday & Friday that will keep me out of the house more than usual. Then I have a list of tasks I want to do around the house on both days as well that will hopefully keep me occupied. I've also planned out when I will eat my meals on Thursday & Friday (since I get hungry after a good work-out AND I get hungry every 3-4 hours if I don't eat any sort of a snack). Of course, I've pre-tracked my meals for those days too, which will hopefully help me with staying on plan.

On Saturday my only hurdle will be going out to the movies with my boyfriend. There are so~ many movies coming out in March that I'm anxious to see! We're planning on seeing Mr. Peabody & Sherman in theaters after I get out of work on Saturday. I have an idea to make some popcorn (either microwaveable or air-popped) and take some in a zip-lock baggie to the movie. The only reason why I wouldn't do that is if I'm not hungry before we go but I might still make up a baggie anyways just in case!

Tasty Tuesday: Recipe Round-Up

Before I share the recipes I've tried my hand at for the last 6-8 weeks, I wanted to explain a bit about the kitchen I work in currently. Back in October I moved out of my parent's house so I could spend more time with my boyfriend since our schedules were very different so we could see each other more often. My mom has the best kitchen ever filled with spices, pots & pans, appliances of every kind, and more. (My mom's a great cook -- she ran a kitchen at a daycare for over a decade then eventually taught culinary at a high school; she knows her way around a kitchen obviously!) When I moved out and left her awesome kitchen, I was left with few resources compared to what I was used to being available when I lived with my mom.

With all of that being said, the recipes I'm going to share tomorrow have a few things in common:

1. They require very few spices. I'm still building up my spice collection, one spice at a time.
2. They are really easy to make. I never really took the time to learn how to make food. I just wasn't interested in learning to make anything. I'm learning culinary skills slowly thanks to Google (example: how to halve a chicken breast).
3. They make more than one serving. I love making bulk meals. I love making recipes with 5-6 servings so I can split them up into microwave-safe containers to make them easy lunches I grab throughout the week.
4. They don't require fancy kitchen tools or appliances. The most complex appliance used for these recipes is a crock-pot. Otherwise I don't own many fancy kitchen tools or appliances. I don't even own a vegetable peeler!

So, now that we've gotten all of that out of the way, I can share the recipes I've been trying to make these past few weeks!

• Hungry Girl's Cheeseburger Mac Attack → I substituted the pasta with gluten-free pasta and added brown rice any time I ate this meal so I could get in a healthy whole grain. I had actually made this recipe before but it had been well over a year since I had made it.
• Hungry Girl's Crock-Pot Cinna-Apples 'n Oats → I didn't have vanilla soymilk on hand for this recipe and I didn't feel like buying it since I wouldn't use it for anything else. So I used regular soy milk with a teaspoon or so of vanilla. This recipe made our house smell great!
• Weight Watcher's Cranberry-Maple Slow Cooker Oatmeal → I didn't use maple syrup, I used Aunt Jemima's Lite Butter Syrup. I also didn't add the almonds.
• Hungry Girl's Hungry Chick Chunky Soup → This is the recipe I had to learn how to halve chicken breasts. I learned that thyme can be found in the produce section (it's cheap -- only $0.99!) and that bay leaves can come in a jar! Once the recipe was done, I ended up throwing in the rest of the frozen peas, stirring them in, and letting them thaw out a bit before dividing the soup for future lunch/dinner meals. I also added brown rice to this recipe any time I eat it so I can get in a whole grain.

The other recipe I've been done a few times since January is just one my friend shared with me -- chicken stir-fry with vegetables. It's pretty simple:

1. Coat a large pan or wok with 1 tablespoon of olive oil (I only use 1 tablespoon because I divide it into 3 servings at the end and this counts as one of my two WW Good Health Guidelines oils)
2. Cut up 6-9 ounces of chicken into cubes or strips and add to the pan/wok (I cheat by using Tyson's Grilled & Ready Chicken Strips -- it may be too processed for some people but it just makes my life easier)
3. Cook the chicken for about 3-5 minutes or until it browns up a bit
4. Add a variety of chopped or sliced or diced veggies to pan (my favorites are broccoli with orange & yellow bell pepper for a variety of color!)
5. Let veggies and chicken cook for a bit (1-3 minutes) while you stir them together
6. Add 3 tablespoons of low-sodium soy sauce to entire pan/wok
7. Continue to let chicken & veggies cook with the add sauce, mixing all ingredients together in the pan/wok
8. Turn heat off and serve!

As I said before, it's a super easy recipe that doesn't take too long to cook! I would say between cutting up the veggies, chicken, and cooking the meal, it takes about 20 minutes to make. This is another recipe to which I add brown rice every time I plan to eat it for lunch or dinner.

Weekend Wrap-Up 05

Once again I had another rough weekend. It wasn't as bad as others but I seem to be in this habit of eating snacks without tracking them BEFORE I eat them. I think that might be the key thing work on next week as part of my mini-goals. If that doesn't help then I may take the advice of my personal trainer and leave a notebook out in the kitchen to make myself write down what I'm eating before I actually consume it.

On Thursday, Friday, AND Saturday, I went over my WW points by quite a few. I went over the most on Thursday by using 14 additional points. It was mainly from snacking and having a package of delicious organic peanut butter cups in the house (which I shouldn't have bought because once I open a package of two, I can't have just one). I went over by 10 points on Friday again from buying chocolate that shouldn't have bought. At the very least the chocolate was in smaller portions that I would likely buy again if I could just buy one portioned package. I also went over points on Friday no thanks to a bag of BBQ chips that I had already portioned out but decided not to wait until later on in the week to have them. Blah.

I went over points Saturday night too because my boyfriend decided to take me out on a date to Bahama Breeze. The good news is that I wouldn't have gone over points if I wasn't crazing white chocolate so bad. I actually I would have been much better if I didn't crave chocolate at all throughout my entire weekend. However, cravings are a thing and they can often be my weakness. It's mostly a matter of learning how to control my cravings by having one small portion of what I'm craving instead of having lots of it available to me.

The good news is that it's Sunday and I'm back on plan. If you noticed that I only talked about going over WW points for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, it would be because when I know I'm going to go over my allotted calories for the day (even with extra exercise calories), I tend to not track those foods. It makes me sad to see my calories go in the red, negative zone for a day using My Fitness Pal.

I feel like I just need to get my brain back in the game here. The first week I decided I wasn't going to let a number on a scale define me, it came so naturally to me to just make healthy choices, eat healthy serving sizes, and continue to stay active. I think I expected that same feeling to come naturally to me again this week. On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, I would go to bed thinking that it was okay I didn't do great that day because I would wake up and the feeling I had two weeks ago would come back naturally to me when I woke up.

This weekend has just been another reminder to me that the best, most important things in life do not come easy. It's about hard work -- mentally, physically, and emotionally. Yes, this is a lifestyle change and not a diet but if I'm not willing to put in the hard work & effort to re-vamp the way I've been thinking and feeling for the past 20 years of my life, then I can expect changes to happen. The physical part of my lifestyle changed has happened as I work out 6-7 days a week. Now it's about learning how to cope with emotions I may feel WITHOUT the aid of food and changing the way my brain thinks about about food (this a long list).

Weekly Weigh-In [9/48]

This week had it's good days and bad days, as mentioned in my Weekend Wrap-Up post from Sunday afternoon. The bad days continued into Monday when we had a day off thanks to Snow Storm Titan. I have to admit that I didn't track honestly on Monday. Before the snow day, I had worked out for 14 days straight by going to the gym every single day. Most days were moderate to vigorous work-outs. I think the only days I gave myself a break with light work-outs were the Fridays I had my Scottish Country Dancing class. However that on its own can be a decent work-out.

So admittedly on Monday I gave myself a break from working out. The problem was that I gave myself a bit of a break from eating healthfully at the same time. I can't say that the day was horrible but I certainly wasn't honest with myself. Honestly, I wish I had learned a lesson as to how to distract myself from mindlessly on lazy snow days like Monday but I'm really drawing a blank on activities that require little-to-no effort. I simply did not want to do any housework, home work-outs, or anything that required too much physical effort because I wanted to give my body a day off.

If anything, I wish I had picked up one of my crocheting or loom knitting projects because that would have been a relaxing hobby to work on that doesn't require much physical movement. So I think that's my goal for the future if we happen to get any additional snow days. Although I'm sure I am not alone when I say that I hope Spring is on its way and that was the last of the snow that we see for awhile.

With all of that being said, I can say that I successfully do not know my weight this week! Huzzah! Despite my half-asleep, half-awake stupor this morning, I managed to tell the Weight Watchers receptionist that weighed me in this morning that I didn't want to know the number on the scale despite still wanting to get weighed in at the meeting. I'm hoping that after finding out how I did last week and seeing how much that destroyed the wonderful mindset I was starting to enjoy, that this week will be a new, fresh start. Two weeks ago when I made the decision to stop finding out the number on the scale, I felt that I had a much, much better mindset and that my focus had shifted for the better. I can only hope that this week can mirror that week's mindset & mood.

(Although, to be honest, I'm kind of a bit anxious to know how I did this week! This post is helping me improve my mood as a I type though, so I'm hoping it helps.)

I'm sort of at a loss of what to write for mini goals to work on this week. I don't have any weekend plans set that would throw me off plan. I will continue to track honestly on WW e-tools and My Fitness Pal. However, as I'm typing this and brainstorming, I think I've come up with a really good idea:

• I will write 3-5 things I like about myself (body, personality, etc) on post-its
• Affix said post-its on my closet door, which I happen to see every morning when I get ready and every evening before I go to bed

I think those are solid ideas to work on this week.

As for my Non-Scale Victory for this week, I'm really proud of the fact that I tried not one but TWO new recipes this week that I've never made before. Speaking of which, I plan to make a round-up post next Tuesday with all of the recipes I've tried over the past six weeks or so. I'm super excited about this because I can't wait to share the recipes I've made. For someone as inept at cooking as I am, they recipes are incredibly easy to make that don't call for a ton of ingredients that I feel anyone could them.

Miscellaneous Monday: Resolution Goals Update v.1

When I started this blog one of the posts I said that I'd make would be periodic updates on my list of goals that I created to accomplish my goal of making it to my goal weight. Since I'm currently home enjoying a relaxing snow day, I figured today would be a good day to work on that sort of a post.

Notes/comments will be in a pink, bold font or italicized. I have a few tiny icons/emoticons to use as a key to indicate how I'm doing with all of my goals. Some of them have changed just a little bit since I'm now trying to not worry about the number on the scale. I'll adjust as I see fit.

[icon key]
gold star = successfully working on goal
tick = working on but I need to make a few adjustments to be more successful
cross = not working on very well and may need to make adjustments

☆Fitness Routine☆

• Continue to meet with a personal trainer every 4-6 weeks [tick] I last met with a personal trainer in January; I think it might be time to set up a new personal trainer session.
• Continue doing work-routines from my personal trainer at least 2 days per week [gold star]
• Cardio/Aerobic Exercises!
  • At least 4 times a week (ideally 5 times) for at least 30 minutes (ideally 40-60 minutes) of either elliptical*, stationary bike*, treadmill, arc trainer, biking, etc. [gold star]
  • HIIT = High Intensity Interval Training [gold star]
    • Elliptical = 2 minutes at baseline, 1 minute fast
    • Stationary bike = 1 minute baseline, 2 minutes fast I don't often work out on the stationary bike and when I do it's only for a warm-up while wait for an elliptical to free up.
  • On my days off from the gym/working out, do at least 30-45 minutes of walking (or other cardio activity), even if it means breaking this time up into 15 minute segments (this will probably occur on the weekends) [tick] I haven't necessarily been doing this because I always find time to go to the gym. On Saturdays I asked for my work schedule to be adjusted so I could to the gym before work (now I only take a 30-minute lunch break on Saturdays). Since Tom doesn't often get a chance to go to the gym during his work week, he's more than willing to go the gym with me on Sundays.
    • Saturdays = 30 minute walk during 1-hour break (at least)
    • Sundays = 30-45 minute walk or hike with Tom OR by myself by leaving for work 1 hour early
• Take a fitness class either once a month or every other month [gold star] January = spin class; February = Scottish Country Dancing; I think for March I will take a Zumba or Kick-Boxing class!
  • Options: jazzercise, kick-boxing, zumba, spin class, water aerobics, etc.
  • Find links/locations online for these options

☆Healthy Eating/Food☆

• Continue tracking food with Weight Watchers [tick] This is something I'm always working on because I'm not perfect. I've also started tracking on My Fitness Pal because I find it helps to keep me more honest and keep my fruit/veggie intake in check.
• Only use weekly 49 points for special occasions (date nights with Tom, outings with friends or family, etc.) → i.e., I will not use my weekly 49 points on Friday/Saturday nights for snacking alone just because I don’t weigh in for another 5-6 days [tick] Again, something I continue to work on but I would say I'm getting better at doing this.
• This is not about sacrificing the foods that I love → I will find alternative foods and/or healthier recipes for foods that I am craving [tick]
• This is not about feeling deprived → When I am hungry, I will have veggies for a snack with a glass of water; if that doesn’t work, I will have a piece of fruit; if I’m still hungry after that, then I will have a high-protein snack (such as PB2) [cross] I don't really keep track of this but I would say I'm not really working on this very well. I am starting to incorporate Greek yogurt more as a snack because the new Yoplait flavors are delicious (and they're a WW power food)!
• I will continue to buy a limited amount of pre-packaged/single-serve foods that I crave for chocolate/cheese/salty/ice cream cravings so the option is there [tick]
• I will continue my Do Not Buy/Weakness Foods List [tick] I've been pretty good about this! But I'm sure there are some foods that I need to throw on there that I haven't added yet.
• Find/narrow down 3-4 recipes to try throughout the month; aim to try and make at least new meal every other week [gold star] I feel I've done really well this! A huge thanks to my mom for letting me use her old crock pot and then getting me my very own crock pot. They are my favorite recipes to make!
• Buy a weekly calendar in order to make menus [gold star] Saturdays have become my day to sit down and write out my weekly menu. I'm really proud of how well I've been keeping up with this goal. [smile emoticon] Sometimes I go off track from what I've planned but hardly ever.
• Try at least one new veggie, fruit or food every month. Alternatively try one new method of eating/preparing veggies, fruits, or meals.* [gold star] For January, I tried a starfruit (too tangy/bitter for my taste). I tried a blood orange last month (February) which was okay but too similar to a grapefruit for me to want to have more than few times a year. For March I think I'm going to count steel-cut oats as my new food of the month.
  *I altered this goal a little to limit myself to just trying new veggies because I feel that's too limiting.
• Keep reducing the amount of gluten I consume; exceptions including old fashion oats, whole grain pasta (limit), whole grain breads (limit), some cereals (Fiber One, Cheerios), whole grain rice products (quinoa, barely) [tick] I'm basically trying to completely eliminate gluten/wheat products from my diet because of ill I feel after I eat them. I'm okay at doing this but I could be a lot stricter.

☆Make It Known☆

• Make an album on Facebook of Before/After pictures with my Starting Weight, Current Weight, and Goal Weight [cross] I haven't done this at all. Oops! I did, however, start posting weekly weigh-in posts on Facebook to hold me more accountable. It helps! But this blog is proving to be helpful in junction with posting on Facebook. [smile emoticon]
• Write on the wipe board on Tom’s fridge how much I have left to lose [cross] I've done this but I haven't kept up with it. However this isn't as big of a deal to me now that I'm trying to not worry about the number on the scale.
• Print out Before/Current pictures and put them around Tom’s house (as well as mostly on the fridge) [cross] I haven't done this either! Oh, man. Maybe I should work on these goals this month.

Weekend Wrap-Up 04

This weekend wasn't certainly not the best weekend I've had eating-wise but it was far from being the worst. I had quite a few emotional ups and downs. Feelings such as sadness, frustration, anger, stress, etc. all crept up to me at some point during my weekend.

Thursday, 2/27
I think Thursday was the worst day for me. Although my day started out well by preparing a new crock-pot recipe that I was going to make (Hungry Girl's Hungry Chick Chunky Soup), it slowly went downhill in the evening once I got home from running my errands on Thursday. I waited too long between my breakfast (a smoothie) and my lunch/dinner (spaghetti squash), so I ended up snacking on a whole bag of Late July Sea Salt Multi-Grain Chips (which I bought, by the way, because I wanted to try them). I had also bought a bag of baked Tostitos Scoop chips but I made sure to weigh/measure out the chips into snack baggies so I wouldn't have the chance to devour the whole bag.

I feel that all of my over-eating snacking was definitely tied to the anger & frustration I was dealing with on Thursday. On top of some personal things I was dealing with, I had also called Comcast that day to try to remedy our internet/television problem. It was a painstakingly long phone conversation that I feel resolved next to nothing. The customer representatives were so frustrating to talk to and unhelpful.

I'm not sure if there's anything I could have done to avoid eating through these emotions. It probably would have been a good idea if I had sat down to write about it in my private blog/journal. However there are times when that just takes too long to do. Food is such an instant fix. I wish it wasn't because it's not a long-term solution to a problem. I guess another solution would have been to call someone up to talk to them about my feelings but this wasn't exactly an option for me. I suppose sometimes I narrow my choices of who I can talk to or at least I have trouble thinking who's free. So in the end I just resorted to food as much I wished I hadn't done so.

Friday, 2/28
Overall Friday was a really good day for me. I ended up having a small first meal of the day with Greek yogurt before meeting with someone for lunch where I knew I would be presented with a buffet of food. Thankfully I've mastered the array of options I have of food when I'm with said person because I make a beeline for the salad bar to load up on veggies & black beans. Plus, this time I took my own packet of salad dressing so I knew how much I was having!

After my Scottish Country Dancing class, I had made sure to pack snacks since I had a couple of errands I wanted to get done before heading home. I'm so glad I did because my errands ran late as I found myself stuck in 5 o'clock traffic. Once I was home, I made some really great choices:

1. I had bought three bags of different chips, all of which I immediately weighed out and divided into baggies before I even got the chance to think about eating through the whole bag.
2. Since I had already had part of a serving of milk (for Weight Watchers, you should have 2 servings of dairy), I decided to have a bit of a different kind of dinner. I opted to have a sweet potato with a cup of cottage cheese which is slowly becoming a new favorite meal of mine because it's so delicious.

It was refreshing to have a better eating day on Friday. Like last week, I planned to have only meals for breakfast/lunch and dinner then have a large serving of air-popped popcorn. However once I made the popcorn, I decided to have a smaller serving so I could have other snacks. This ended up being a bad idea for me because a few hours later I was hungry (or at least, I thought I was hungry) so I ate some chips that I had not portioned into baggies. The chips also had gluten in them, which is something I've been having problems avoiding lately. I'm pretty sure I paid the price for not watching my gluten intake though because last night (Saturday), I felt pretty ill once I got home from work.

Saturday, 3/1
I actually did really, really good on Saturday. In the morning, I got in a good 55 minute work-out which I often don't find time to do. During the day I ate really well, with the small exception of around lunch. For lunch I had a mix of cereals (½ cup of Fiber One [which has gluten in it, but I wanted to try to see if my body could tolerate it]; ½ cup of Honey Nut Chex cereal; and 1 cup of rice Chex cereal) with a banana. The lunch itself was fine as far as points+/calories are concerned and it tasted delicious but the meal didn't stick with me. I was hungry only 2-3 hours later where I can usually go 3-4 hours without that feeling of hunger hitting me.

After work I relaxed with my boyfriend and had a chance to talk to him about some of the feelings I've been trying to cope with on my own. I felt this was very helpful for me to do since I still haven't gotten a chance to write out my feelings in my private blog in their entirety. Eventually we settled down to watch a TV series on Netflix and I did well with my snacking then too. The only moment I didn't do so good was when I had a small bag of Tostitos baked scoops but I had already portioned them out into 3pts+/120-calorie baggies. So I'm really proud of myself.

Overall I did pretty terribly on Thursday and Friday by going way over my allotted points+/calories for the day. Saturday I did much better by only going over by 3pts+ but I didn't go over my calories for the day due to the amount of steps I took that day. I'm still trying to exercise back my weekly 49pts+ that I get with Weight Watchers -- right now I have 40 weekly points to use but I begin a week with 49 points. Over the course of four days (Wednesday through Saturday), I've earned 25 activity points. *\o/* Go me!