Preface: Driving home from Lighten Up's weigh-in, I listened to NPR's What Do You Know. Michael Feldman was interviewing the owner of Chicken Charlie's, a county fair vendor in California which serves deep-fried delicacies such as Oreos, avocados, and Kool-Aid (yes, even the Kool-Aid is deep fried!). I pass no judgment and have no comment other than noting the irony of listening to the interview after the weigh-in.
In keeping with my promise of yesterday to focus my attention and blogging on food, I couldn't decide whether to share a list of what I ate yesterday. Between notebook paper and the WW website, I kept an accurate log of what I ate; I can easily see what was good and what was not so great. I would be able to list what I ate; the question was whether I would.
There's the perfectionist part of me that doesn't want to share with you my slip-ups; that part is afraid you'll judge, sneer at, and generally ridicule me. There's the cynical (realistic?) part of me that says you'd be bored to read a list of what I ate. I certainly would be. It seems to me that both these thoughts are based on fear, and if I've learned one thing from Women on Weights in particular and exercise in general, it's that I need to act not from fear but from belief.
With that in mind, here's what I ate yesterday.
Breakfast was a big decision for me because yesterday was contest weigh-in day. As is the case with many people I know, I've usually opted to not eat before weigh-in. But through the contest I've discovered that for me that's a wrong choice. Weigh-in isn't till noon, and since 8PM is generally the latest I'll eat (okay, 9PM, but only when I'm forcing myself to stay awake), that's roughly 17 hours between meals! That's too long. My body is a machine which needs fuel, and to deny it fuel in hopes of a couple ounces on the scale is just wrong. Weigh-ins reflect the entire time between weigh-ins, not just the morning of. So I ate breakfast.
Subway turkey & ham on wheat, with lots of veggies and honey mustard (no cheese, onions, or hot peppers)
Knowing what my schedule would be, I picked up a 12" sub, and had ½ for lunch and ½ for dinner.
Snacking: strawberries, banana, hard sourdough pretzels, fat free cottage cheese, chocolate chip cookies, carrot, ½ Klondike bar
Yikes! Here's where I see my slip-ups. The strawberries, banana, carrot, and cottage cheese were obviously good choices. The others were treats I chose. I can tell you that the cookies were little, the pretzels were fat free, and they don't make Klondike bars like they used to, but the fact remains that I didn't need three treats yesterday. Those extra calories = no weight loss.
Beverages
Water, water, water. A cup of unsweetened herbal tea. And more water, water, water.
If you're still with me, well done! I'll tell you: reviewing and analyzing yesterday's food intake today has been a good exercise for me. Up till today, when I've kept a food tracker, I've simply written down what I ate when I ate it, and moved on. This is the first time I've looked at the list the next day in an effort to learn from it. I'm glad I did it. I think it'll help me do better today.
It's almost time for breakfast. It sounds silly, but since I fell short in my consumption of vegetables yesterday, I think I'll get a good start by including a carrot or two at breakfast. As veggies go it's the most breakfast-like one that comes to mind (people make carrot bread, etc.). And whatever I choose, be it raisin bran & milk or Greek yogurt & kasha or what-have-you, today I'll measure and track the portion sizes (which always either annoyed or elated me in Weight Watchers). It feels like something I need to do in order to unravel the mystery of eating).
~Karin
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