Oh! It was a STRUGGLE for me today. My husband's practically empty container of chocolate raisins was screaming my name today, like out of NO WHERE, and all things chocolate were popping out of the woodwork saying "Eat me! Eat me!"
What the heck? I'm stronger than this...where are all you fiends coming from?
And then I realized that I was only wanting chocolate for the sake of it being Valentine's Day. In Valentine's past, I would eat any treat I felt like. Heck, I would eat any treat even when I didn't feel like it. I just love the LOOK of Valentine's Day candy. I decided that instead of treating myself with chocolates on Valentine's Day, fully remembering the beautiful day I had yesterday...it was just weird! I decided instead of treating myself to a chocolate, that I didn't even really want, I would treat myself with a pedicure and manicure after I got Little Man down for his nap. Solid.
I attended church meetings and I decided to bring a Quest bar as well as my water bottle to have with me throughout my meetings. My mind was just not with it today, and I really needed my structured 3 hour eating schedule to not succumb to these wonky cravings. Well, bringing that Quest bar totally worked for me. I ate it quietly enough to where it wasn't a distraction and quite frankly, I'm pretty sure I'm at the point where I NEED something every 3 hours. I say this because, sure enough, I had hit the 3 hour mark (trying to hold off eating the bar until the break between meetings) and I couldn't! I was starting to crash! I literally felt my body wind down and start to go into sleep mode. As soon as I popped that delicious Quest bar into my mouth, I immediately felt my energy come back and I was able to stay awake for the rest of my meetings.
I started the morning off with my Dannon Light and Fit Greek Blueberry Yogurt (2sp) topped with this DELICIOUS granola I found at Costco. I'm thinking it's seasonal, but I LOVE it and would consider it a FLAVOR FAVE. It's not smarptoint friendly, but if you need something to hold you over, it does the trick for me. FLAVOR FAVE: Nature's Path Organic LOVE CRUNCH Dark Chocolate and Red Berries Granola (5sp for 1/4 cup). Yeah nobody is perfect...but it helped me fight off the unworthy chocolates creeping their way into my vision throughout the morning. I also enjoyed a banana "anpake" with my son. 1 banana (0sp), 1 egg (2sp), and 2 T Chocolate PB2. Mix and mash together and cook like a regular pancake. I still have yet to master cooking those things, but it did turn out yummy and I only had 1 smartpoint worth of the pancake. So breakfast was a total of 8 smartpoints.
For my second meal I had to get something packable and only 4 smartpoints to balance out my 6 smartpoint meal guideline. What would you have it? FLAVOR FAVE: Quest Bar S'mores is only 4 smartpoints, and they are just SO YUMMY to me. Thank you M&M for letting me buy the box off of your hands!
My third meal was pretty simple. It was at home after church...and yet I was still having that nagging urge to consume chocolate! What is WRONG with me?! I haven't craved chocolate in over a month! There is NO reason for me to be craving it now! I put my big girl pants on and get busy making my lunch, shoving the cravings out of the way. My lunch ended up being 1 Papa's Organic Thinwich Sandwich Thin (3sp), 4 oz of Oscar Meyer Deli Fresh Oven Roasted Turkey Breast (1 sp!!), and 1 Laughing Cow Spreadable Cheese Wedge in Creamy Light Swiss (1sp). I made the sandwich and toasted that baby, accompanying it with steamed carrots and squash, all the while splitting an apple with my hubby. A delicious lunch, and satisfying, sitting at only 5sp.
After the dishes and kitchen were cleaned, I found myself having a desire to continue munching. I didn't feel too hungry, but it was like an itch I couldn't scratch! So instead of going for chips, I went for a bag of pretzel sticks I pre-portioned (3sp) with 2 T of Chocolate PB2 (1sp). Here is when my lightbulb went off. As I was munching on the pretzel sticks, trying to search exactly what it was I was craving...I discovered it wasn't even food at all. It was companionship. My husband and I have very busy Sunday mornings, not only getting Little Man ready for the day with all his needs, but also making sure, for 2 hours out of our 3 1-hour meetings, we are making sure 13 little children under the age of 3 are having THEIR needs met as well. *sigh...insert chair flop here*. So, on Sunday's...we are BUSY. I realized today that, because it was Valentine's Day, I was craving affection and companionship. I'm not a cuddly person, never have been, but today was just different I guess! So my husband and I decided to snuggle up together and...take a nap. Yes, so romantic...but much needed. Normally he would go pop some popcorn and watch a movie of some sort while I napped alone...but today we just decided to spend some time together...and that was all I needed. Craving gone and energy restored through naptime, or rather, "me time".
I woke up earlier than my husband and decided that my little family still needed a little Valentine's Day loving, and so I quickly whipped up my The Devil Done Me In...With No Regrets: Chocolate Strawberry dessert. I separated the same recipe in my previous blog entry into 4 servings this time, so adding 1 more T of cool whip and 1 more cookie. Each little serving still sat at 3 smartpoints, and had my husband, sister AND SON, excited for more. My son proceeded to eat his whole serving and ask everyone else at the table for a "bite? bite?" all the while signing "more". My husband and sister had already finished theirs...and I was on the last leg of mine...so I proceeded to teach him how to lick the bowl. Yep, insert finger and swipe. Place said finger in mouth and repeat. He's a fast learner. We enjoyed those little beauties after our Valentine's Day dinner we all ate together.
Here is a visual of the Chocolate Strawberry dessert untouched...
Dinner ended up being a little higher than I expected because I was using a meat my parents had given us from their freezer before the big move. I THOUGHT it was round steaks...it ended up being 80/20 hamburger packed more fancy than usual. The meat was not so good, but my sister had a great idea to put some BBQ sauce on it...and it made ALL the difference. I had seasoned the meat and grilled it for the allotted time for perfection, but I'm not a fan of 80/20 beef anyways. We eat ground turkey or venison around here, so until the BBQ sauce was added, it was NOT so tasty and the meat itself was NOT worth the points I spent on it.
So I ended up eating 3.5 ounces of the 80/20 ground beef for a WHOPPING 7 smartpoints. I wasn't going to avoid the meat all together because life happens and I was hungry! I decided to take the hit to my points and live. In the top left hand corner was probably the feature of the meal that I was MOST excited about...Rainbow carrots from Trader Joe's! They are just fun carrots of many colors that brought beauty to the plate, steamed and seasoned with McCormick Vegetable seasoning (0sp). Delicious. We enjoyed 1/2 c of the FLAVOR FAVE: Seeds of Changed Brown Rice and Quinoa with Garlic (to be found at Costco) for 3 smartpoints, and each of us got a little bit of broccoli...the last of the bunch. Afterwards we enjoyed the above mentioned dessert and all were smiles and satisfaction.
But what would you have it? 3 hours later, my hunger strikes again. Totally off day, but I refuse to go hungry. I REFUSE. So I take the hit again and satisfy it with 3 oz of my pre-portioned Cilantro Lime Shrimp from Costco (1sp), 1 honeycrisp apple (0sp...and those apples themselves are SUCH a treat. They are DANG expensive, so I rarely buy them UNLESS they are on sale. This particular apple was a financial splurge) and 1 T Salted Almond Butter from Trader Joe's (3sp). I almost portioned out 2 T thinking well, I've already blown it...I might as well go hard and start anew tomorrow but then I stopped myself, scooped the almond butter BACK into the jar and cleaned off the almond butter from my 2 T measuring spoon as best I could. I will admit, I DID lick off the remnants (I paid a good penny for that almond butter, I ain't wasting NONE of it) but then switched to my 1 T measuring spoon and made sure it was ONLY a T and not a heaping T.
My friends, this is a journey. We will fail, yes fail...give up and stop trying if we seek perfection. We will do much better if we strive for consistency. So, instead of just blowing it and having a 7 smartpoint snack...I ended up eating only 4 smartpoints with the shrimp, almond butter, and apple combined.
I found a quote today on WW Connect that really struck a chord: "If you focus on results, you will NEVER change. If you focus on change, you will get results"-Jack Dixon.
Tonight, my friends, I CHOOSE to focus on the changes I made in my lifestyle. I RECOGNIZED that my food craving wasn't for food at all, but rather companionship. Yes, I succumbed to munching on pretzels, but I took the time, while munching, to figure out EXACTLY what was going on! I also tracked everything I ate, so I was consistent and I didn't allow myself to go hungry. I decided the hit to my points was NOT as big a deal as feeling hungry and not being able to sleep well.
It's a lifestyle change, my friends. My exercise hasn't been on-point the past couple days, so I'm recommitting tomorrow. I have to focus on change; it's only THEN that I'll get the results I want.
Sleep well,
Camille
p.s. I did have to go back onto WW.com and switch my profile point pulling method. Instead of not switching my FitPoints at all, I did have to go and make the switch to have the system pull from my weeklies first and THEN pull from my FitPoints.
p.s.s. I finished today -5 smartpoints. Life happens, and I chose to live and enjoy. Not hide and deny.
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