Day 1 of the rest of my healthy new life ...

Got sidetracked over the weekend with the Boyfriend (which extended into Monday, because we're both off on Mondays), but I was back on track today.

Needless to say, the year so far has not been a great one for my theme, "just do it." I've had moments, but most of the time has been spent NOT doing what needs to be done.

That changes now. I need to do this for myself ... I need to do it to stop the scale's creep in the wrong direction (up another pound since last Monday's official WW weigh-in).

Today was a great day. I stayed in my Points, without eating any FPs, and I got in 20 minutes of exercise — a 15-minute walk, plus extra walking and some toning exercises while I watched "The Biggest Loser" season premiere that I taped earlier tonight. Right now I'm drinking green tea while I blog and watch the show, but as soon as I'm done blogging, I'm going to pick up the weights.

For dinner, I tried a new recipe. I bought the Hungry Girl recipe cards with part of my Christmas gift card from my brother and sister-in-law, and made the sesame peanut noodles (using tofu shirataki noodles). They were pretty good, though I think I prefer the "Hungry Girlfredo" fettucine Alfredo swap. Maybe if I bulk them up a little with some ham or chicken or something ... I was hungry too soon after eating dinner. Had to have some beet salad and then some almonds shortly thereafter.

Then again, the total for all that food was just 7 Points (4 for the noodles, 1 for the beets and 2 for the almonds). That's not a bad total for dinner (especially after several days of overindulging).

Here's the Tweet, Eat, Post chart for the day:

Food	Units
ww 2-point almond crunch bar — yum!	2
ww cheddar twists	2
greek salad w/ chicken	6
fiber one pop tart	3
hg peanut noodles	4
orange-beet salad	1
15-minute walk
100-cal pk almonds	2
100-cal pak chocolate covered pretzels	2
2 clementines	1
Total:	23

Table provided by Roni's Food Tweet, Eat, Post Generator.

Goals for Wednesday:

• Eat just 23 Points, using perhaps 2 or 3 FPs (no more)
• Get at least 10 minutes of exercise
• Drink at least 8 8-ounce glasses of liquid (mostly H2O)
• Track every morsel that goes into my mouth

Totally do-able, I know!

Feeling much better now

I had a pretty good day overall. I got in a nice walk and only ate 27 Points total.

Subtract the 2 APs I earned on my walk and I only used 2 FPs. (I'm going to discount the fact that I doubt I have any left for the week after that rough patch.)

Have I mentioned that I love Hungry Girl? I baked up some of her Butternut Squash Bake after lunch, and had some as a snack, and then another serving with dinner. Delicious! Except I'm beginning to think it's not just Burger King onion rings that don't agree with me. The onions in the squash bake seemed to give me gas, too. :P

Here's the Tweet, Eat, Post version of my day. I'll try to add some pictures later, when I get them off the camera.

Food	Units
zucchini, grilled w/ 1 tsp olive oil	1
sandwich thin w/ 2 oz ham, wedge lc light, ff mayo, honey mustard	4
2 clementines	1
pumpkin fluff	1
ww 2-point double chocolate bar	2
hg cheesy butternut squash bake	2
ff tuna salad w/ crackers	3
bbq chicken sandwich	4
butternut squash bake	2
jell-o sf chocolate mousse	1
1/2 oz. peanuts	2
ww brownie	2
100-cal pk cocoa-roasted almonds - love em!	2
Total:	27

Table provided by Roni's Food Tweet, Eat, Post Generator.

Anyway, since it worked for me last night, I'm going to try it again: I won't be having snack when I get home from work, and I will be getting up early(ish) to take a walk before I head to the NaNoWriMo "Thank goodness it's over" party at Barnes & Noble at noon. (And, just for good measure, I WON'T be eating cheesecake like I did last Sunday at BN.)

Followed through

I just finished doing what I said I was going to do: No snack after work, and a walk first thing when I woke up. (It was late morning, since I didn't get up until 10:30 ... but it was still first thing!)

I guess you could say it's a step in the right direction.

When I got back from my walk (a little more than 2 miles in 32 minutes), I fixed a healthy — and delicious — lunch. I sliced a zucchini, tossed it with olive oil, garlic and sea salt, and then grilled it on George. I also made a ham sandwich: A Sandwich Thin with 2 oz. ham, a Laughing Cow light cheese wedge and a little Miracle Whip Free and honey mustard. It, too, got the George treatment. Yum! And I peeled and ate two clementines. Double yum! I love those things ... and it's even better when you buy a bag for less than $3.

Next up? I think I'm going to make some of Hungry Girl's Cheesy Butternut Squash Bake to have as an afternoon snack and with dinner.

It's amazing how easy it is to start feeling good again! Now, all I need to do is keep up the good work.

So far, so good

With breakfast and lunch behind me, I've consumed 16 Points.

Hmm. Saying that out loud makes me realize that's actually not so great when I have just 23 Points to eat. Perhaps I need to retitle this post "So far, not so good" ...

Breakfast was HG's Egg Mug Classic on half a sandwich thin. Pretty tasty, though I still think I prefer the Egg Mug Lorraine, with bacon bits, onion and dijon mustard in the mix. After some computer time, during which I accomplished nothing but surfing the Net, I headed outside for a walk.

I ended up walking myself over to the house of a neighbor who happens to be a writer, and we decided to have lunch at Picazzo's, our favorite gourmet pizza place. I had my usual, the caesar salad/slice of pizza combo, which today happened to be a shrimp scampi pizza. Delicious! The only trouble is, it had alfredo sauce ... so I'm counting lunch as 12 Points instead of the usual 11. Hope it's not actually more than that!

Now, I'm off to the Boyfriend's for some quality time with my computer until he gets home from work. I'll work much better being at the Starbucks in Camp Verde, away from the temptations of the Internet.

My heroine is about to impulsively cut off the long, blonde hair she's been hiding behind for years. And then she's going to wish she had it back.

A case of the munchies

Today should have been another stellar, OP day — but it wasn't quite as good as I'd hoped.

I started off strong with a 3-Point breakfast and a 3-Point snack, but by the time lunch rolled around, I was starving. I stopped at Subway for a buffalo chicken 6-inch sub on honey-oat bread. I tried to order sensibly, getting just the sandwich instead of the meal with baked chips. I was hungry enough to devour an apple on the drive from Subway to the house ... and I sliced up a zucchini and grilled it on George to go with the sandwich. That made for an 8-Point lunch, so I was already down 14 for the day.

Then the trouble really started. I had a Diet Soda Cupcake (2 Points), some Hungry Girl-inspired homemade Doritos (corn tortillas sprayed with cooking spray and sprinkled with a mixture of taco seasoning and Land O Lakes sharp cheddar seasoning, for 1 Point) and two clementines. I also snacked on a chewy granola bar (2 more).

And that left me with very few Points — 3 to be exact — for dinner. I ate a stuffed pepper and a salad with EVOO and balsamic vinegar (5 Points) and then had some SF Jell0 mousse (1). The after-work snack was some homemade popcorn, bringing my grand total so far to 27 Points.

No exercise to offset what I ate today. The walk fell by the wayside as I finished up my Golden Heart entry. So that means I've used 3 FPs for the day — IF I don't have a snack when I get home tonight ... and that's a BIG if. My post-work snacks are probably just habit by now, but I swear my stomach is rumbling right now.

Food	Units
hg egg mug classic on sandwich thin	3
slice chocolate pumpkin loaf	3
6-inch buffalo ckn sub, no cheese	7
honeycrisp apple	1
grilled zucchini	0
diet soda cupcake, halved, w/ 1 tbsp ff cool whip	2
hg-inspired homemade "doritos"	1
2 clementines	1
quaker chewy granola bar - oatmeal raisin	2
salad w/ 1tsp evoo, balsamic vinegar	1
stuffed pepper	4
jell-o mousse	1
homemade microwave popcorn	1
Total:	27

Table provided by Roni's Food Tweet, Eat, Post Generator.

FPs used today: 3; Total used for week: 4.5.

Day 1 of WW week went well

Tuesday was a successful Day One for my WW week. I ate 27.5 Points but took a 50-minute, 3+ mile walk that earned me 3 APs. That means I only used 1.5 Flex Points for the day. Considering I usually use all 5, I'm not complaining.

I need to try to save up some FPs, though. I have my romance writers group meeting on Saturday, and it's not easy to order something low in Points at the restaurant where the meeting is held.

Speaking of romance, I spent the morning at a write-in, boosting that NaNoWriMo word count. I've written 14,500+ words since Nov. 1 — an amazing number for me, and that doesn't include my random blog posts. It's only words in the manuscript I'm currently working on. I just might have it finished by the end of the year if I can keep up this pace.

Of course, this pace is a bit hectic. I'm still finding it tough to balance the day job with writing, blogging, eating right and exercising. Why is it so hard to get the balance right?

This morning started off with Hungry Girl's Egg Mug Classic on a Sandwich Thin. Delicious (but I still like the Egg Mug Lorraine, with a few bacon bits and dijon mustard, better)! Then, after hour one of the two-hour write-in, I treated myself to a serving of the Chocolate Pumpkin Loaf I made yesterday.

Now, I'm about to leave the coffee shop for a walk and healthy lunch before heading into work. And I'm still trying to finish up my Golden Heart entry before I leave for work. Wish me luck!

Can it really be that simple?

I went to my normal Monday morning weigh-in this morning after a decent but not great weekend ... and I was down 4.8 pounds.

Of course, that still means I'm up 1.2 from two Mondays ago, but down from last Monday. I'll take it. At least it means the scale's going in the right direction. :D

The big difference? I was alone this weekend, after being with the Boyfriend last weekend. Yes, I know I make poor choices when I'm with him. He doesn't have to push very hard for me to say, "I'd love some mac & cheese" or some french fries or microwave popcorn with real butter.

Why? Because, for me, food = fun. When I'm happy and enjoying myself, food is often involved.

I like fun food. A cheeseburger is a heck of a lot more fun than a salad topped with grilled chicken. Mac & cheese is definitely more fun than, say, brown rice. And chocolate cake or a donut will beat out an apple almost every time.

Bad attitude, I know, but there it is. Give me fun foods and I'm a happy camper.

I think that's why I like Hungry Girl's newsletter: She's always dishing up recipes for things like onion rings, cupcakes and faux fast-food faves — and they're all way healthier than the originals.

I need to work on my attitude. It's a lifestyle, not a diet ... and it doesn't mean a steady intake of salads. There's plenty of room in this lifestyle for sensible indulgences.

So worth it

Pay no attention to the sink full of dirty dishes. Hungry Girl's Cheesy Butternut Bake is SO worth the cleanup.

Yes, I said it — and I HATE cleaning up. Usually, anything that takes more than one or two pieces of hardware doesn't get made.

But being a butternut squash lover, I had to try this recipe when I saw it in my inbox. It was delicious — and for only two WW Points.

It was actually a Hungry Girl kind of day. I started the morning with HG's Outrageous Chocolate Chip Pancakes — yum! (That's them, below.) It was the second time I'd made this recipe, and I'll definitely be making it again.