Forgot to take a picture of breakfast

I made pumpkin pancakes from Green Lite Bites this morning, and they were delicious. Unfortunately, I forgot to snap their photo before I snarfed them down.

They looked a lot like the ones Roni photographed, though. They were slightly cakey and just a bit sweet. Yum! And three pretty large pancakes had just 4 WW Points. (I added some sugar-free syrup for another 1 Point.)

Even better, they were a great way to use up the leftover pumpkin in my fridge before it went bad.

After breakfast, I hit the sidewalk for a 22-minute walk.

More later. I'll remember to take pictures for the rest of my meals. Promise!

Is it already Day 3?

The visual food journal thing seems to be working. Even when I don't get the pictures off the camera and into the blog, the simple act of stopping to take the photo makes me think twice.

Today was a decent day, food-wise. I ate a few more Points than allowed, but I think I'm still within the Flex Points for the week. I'm going to have to be more strict the next couple of days, though, because I've pretty much used them all up now.

This morning started off with breakfast of a Sandwich Thin topped with 1 Tbsp each of reduced-fat PB and sugar-free peach jam. Mmm. An hour or so later, while I sat at my computer, writing, I tapped into the Boyfriend's bag of almonds, which he'd conveniently left within reach. (Forgot to take their picture, though.)

By about 11 a.m., I decided I was tired of writing and took a nap. Two hours later, when I finally woke up, it was time to hurry back up the mountain to go to work. So I had a quick lunch at Subway (and ate a pack of mini-Oreos on the way to Subway. Apparently, all that sleeping made me hungry.)

My at-work, post-lunch snack was a Spooky S'mores Bar, and then some Whoppers that some kind soul left in the newsroom. Sorry to say, but I LOVE malted milk balls, so I couldn't resist. At least I only ate one tiny pack (just 3 Whoppers).

For dinner, I'd pulled a serving of Roni's Beef-A-Roni out of the freezer. I'm not sure it froze all that well (or maybe it was just old. I can't remember how long it was in the freezer.). The pasta was a bit mushy ... but it was still pretty tasty. I also ate a Jell-O mousse cup.

At about 10 p.m., I nibbled on the Kashi Fruit and Grain bar I brought in as my late-night snack. I love those things. I may also have some popcorn when I get home.

Overall, it was a pretty chocolate-heavy day. In retrospect, I wonder if starting the day off with PB&J works for me. (It does for Cristin at Eat Like Me!) But I seemed to want sweets all day long. That's not a good thing when I'm still trying to lose 20-ish pounds.

I also didn't get in any exercise today. Between all that writing, sleeping and working, I had no time to even take a short walk. Oh well. I'll definitely get one in tomorrow (or later today, actually, after I've gotten some sleep.)

Food	Units
sandwich thin w/ 1 tbsp rf pb, 1 tbsp sf peach jam	3
14 almonds	2
6-inch buffalo chicken sub w/o cheese	7
bag baked cheddar & sour cream chips	3
fun pk mini oreos	1
spooky smores z bar - yum!	2
3 whopper candies (from a fun-size pack)	1
roni's beef-a-roni	6
jell-o mousse	1
Total:	26

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

Day One (again)

My first full day of snapping photos of everything I ate went very well indeed. I hit my target of 23 Points for the first time ever (since losing a Point on my birthday).

As I suspected, taking pictures of what I eat is making me more aware of the choices I'm making. I sure don't want to have to tell you guys that I scarfed down a bunch of junk!

Here's what I did eat:

I had lunch with friends at Picazzo's, my favorite gourmet pizza place. Got my usual, the caesar salad with the special slice of the week. This week it was a margherita pizza, with tomato, basil and mozzarella. Yum! At 11 Points, it is a bit of an indulgence, but I just love Picazzo's. I try to get there at least once a payday.

A couple hours after lunch, I had another fun pack of mini Oreos. Really — how much fun are 5 bite-sized Oreos? I should give the rest away (but I'm sure I won't).

My at-work afternoon snack involved grape tomatoes and hummus on a sandwich thin. (I remembered to take a picture of the tomatoes this time.)

For dinner, I tried a new recipe, Quinoa and Black Beans. Someone brought it in to share at my last WW meeting, and I thought it sounded good. It was. I bulked it up a bit with some turkey smoked sausage, because I'm not much of a vegetarian. Even so, the whole bowl was just 4 Points. Watch for the recipe in a separate post.

Dessert was a Jell-O chocolate mousse cup (forgot to shoot). Then, at work for the evening, I snacked on another honeycrisp apple and some no-sugar-added peaches for 2 more Points. (I also had a piece of sugar-free root beer hard candy, which has barely any calories, so I'm counting it as 0. A 3-piece serving is 50 calories.)

No real exercise today, unless strolling around two grocery stores looking for quinoa counts, but the weather is going to be perfect for a walk in the morning — not too cold.

Below is my food journal from Tweet, Eat, Post, a great tool at Roni's Weigh.

Food	Units
light yogurt	2
picazzo's caesar salad & slice of pizza lunch combo	11
halloween pk mini oreos	1
10 grape tomatoes	0
2 tbsp hummus w/ sandwich thin	2
quinoa and black beans w/ 2 oz. turkey smoked sausage	4
jell-o chocolate mousse	1
honeycrisp apple	1
no-sugar-added peaches	1
Total:	23

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

Status quo is not working

I had my weekly WI this morning and was most displeased with the results: Up 3.4 pounds — since Wednesday.

Yes, there was a stress-filled Friday night binge (Taco Bell and too many Halloween cookies/candy) and the Boyfriend fed me too much for dinner Sunday night ... but 3+ pounds?

Some of it was probably water weight, but still, I'm unhappy with that. I'm supposed to be getting closer to goal, not farther away!

So I've decided what I've been doing is not working. The question is, what to do about it?

I think I've settled on an answer. I'm going to start taking pictures of what I eat before I eat it, and posting it here for you all to see, a la Self.com's Eat Like Me blog.

That ought to make me think twice about scarfing down 8 Halloween cookies and a plate of cheesy nachos!

Here's my stab at yesterday. I started with lunch, because that was after the bad WI.

Lunch was a beef/veggie bowl with brown rice from the Flame Broiler (8 Points). I forgot to snap it before I started eating, so by what you see is about half of it, after I'd eaten most of the veggies.

After lunch, I had

something sweet: a fun-size bag of Oreos (1 Point). I was excited to learn that

o

n

e

pack of those things

was just 1 Point ... but one pack is really a teeny tiny amount.

Afternoon snacks at work were a light English

muffin with hummus (2 more Points) and a honeycrisp apple.

Needed a quick dinner, so it was off to the Wendy's drive-thru. But I order

ed as healthy as I could: grilled chicken sandwich (7 Poin

ts) with a side salad (1 for the dres

sing).

What you didn't see: Breakfast was peanuts and a banana (5). I also forgot

to snap the 10 grape

tomatoes I ate at work (0) and the mini-box of Milk Duds pilfered from someone's leftover Halloween stash at the office (1).

My grand total for the day was 28 Points, so I used 5 FPs.

Must find a better way to cope with stress

I admit it: I'm a stress eater. I know this about myself and try to compensate whenever possible.

Today, I failed miserably. I told myself I wouldn't eat my way through a stressful evening at work — but I did it anyway.

I know there are other ways to deal with stress: Take a walk ... phone a friend ... take a stretching break ... run to a quiet place and let out a scream ... :D

But when you don't feel like you can leave your desk for longer than it takes to hit the bathroom, it's rather difficult to do any of those things. Much easier to snack.

Except it's not better for my waistline — and I've decided that the status quo is not working. After realizing a couple of posts ago that I've basically maintained my weight for a year (down about 50 but with about 20 left to get to goal), I've been trying to come up with ways to shake things up a bit.

One way would be to come up with suitable alternatives to stress-eating. Any of you out there have any ideas on how to stop snacking when I'm stressed out but feel obligated to stay at my desk, plowing through a pile of pages?

Thank goodness for canine workout partners!

I keep reading that dogs make great workout partners. But I'm not a big believer, because my Cocoa is a lazy girl. She's quite happy to stay inside.

Now that I'm dog-sitting for a friend's dog, I can believe it. Bandit is fantastic for my activity level.

Bandit, you see, is used to getting walks. (That's him at left.) Unlike my lazy lump on a log, Cocoa (below), he gets three or more walks a day. So when I'm Bandit-sitting, I get more walks myself.

That's good for both of us. When I get up in the morning, and it's cold and snowy outside and I don't want to even THINK about taking a walk, Bandit looks at me expectantly. I know that he's used to getting even more walks than I give him, and I end up outside, in the cold, walking the dog.

Today, it was a 34-minute walk after my write-in. I picked him up at his house this morning, but because I was running late, he only got a quick walk around the block. I promised him a longer walk when I got home from the write-in ... And even though I doubt he has a concept of time (or promises), I kept it.

I guess promising Bandit is kind of like promising myself. :D

Speaking of promises to myself, I DID hit that WW meeting Wednesday afternoon. It put me at 188.2 — exactly the same as a week ago Monday.

I'm not upset, because I know that I weigh a little heavier at night. My a.m. weigh-in when I first woke up Wednesday was 185.4 — also not bad when I consider I had a bad weekend.

File this one under 'things that make you go hmm'

Those of you who read my blog over at Blog to Lose know that the Boyfriend and I got into a tiff Monday. He wanted me to fetch and carry (like he always does, somehow thinking that's helping me get more activity) and I didn't want to (like I usually don't. Why should I jump when he says jump?).

He yelled, and the words "fat" and "a$$" came up. He also asserted that all I need to do to lose weight is get more exercise ... like the macaroni and cheese, french fries, fried chicken and other unhealthy foods he's always tempting me to eat aren't a huge culprit in my failure to lose the last 15-20 pounds.

Later, he apologized. But he also brought up a good point: "You say your a$$ is fat all the time ... why is it OK for you to say it, but not me?"

A very good point, indeed. It reminded me of something my WW leader said once: We often say things to/about ourselves that we'd never put up with a friend saying.

And that begs the question: WHY? Why is it OK for me to call myself fat, yet I don't like it at all when the Boyfriend says the same thing?

The short answer? It's not.

We should all be a little kinder to ourselves. Let's celebrate our successes instead of focusing on our failures.

I'm particularly bad at that: I keep focusing on the weight I still have to lose instead of remembering that I've already lost 50+ pounds. In fact, I can tell you exactly how much weight I still had to lose as of my last WI: 18.2 pounds. But I had to look it up to know how much I've lost in all (53.8 pounds).

There's something wrong with that. I should be able to call that number to mind effortlessly. I've lost 53.8 pounds ... Yes, I have a few more to go — but I should still be celebrating what I've already accomplished.

Basically, I've been maintaining for a year. I hit the 50-pounds lost mark right around my birthday in 2008 — ever since, I've been bouncing around the 180s. My WW goal is still 170 (2 pounds under the max weight for my height).

I can get there, I know I can. Yes, I do need to get more exercise — at least 30 minutes most days of the week. But fetching for the Boyfriend isn't going to cut it. More long walks ... bike rides ... even jogging.

And I have to put the kibosh on eating crap, especially when I'm with the Boyfriend. (He really is a huge culprit.)

Time to live by the wise, wise words of Yoda: "There is no try. Do or do not." It's time for me to buckle down and just do it!