Well, that was a surprise...

[Guest guest]

I was quite proud of myself this week. I moved the candy dish from a work area about 30 feet from my desk, around the corner into the xerox room, another 30-40 feet away. Instead of eating 10 (or more) pieces every day, I ate maybe 3. I think Friday I may have had only one!

NOBODY complained about the change; indeed, several people thanked me for making it a little less easy to grab a piece. I was not the only one eating less; normally, I have to refill the dish at least once a day; this week, I only refilled it on Wednesday. I also got B-list candy (less chocolate, more smarties and taffy), so that's part of the slowdown too. If you truly want a piece, it's not that far away, I probably go into the xerox room a dozen times a day. But, it's not staring at me every time I turn to walk out of my office.

I was surprised to find that I didn't miss it, either. It makes me realize how much mindless eating I must do. While climbing a mountain might be a good idea "because it's there", eating small bits of candy, not so much.

My food was generally better throughout the week, although I slipped badly on Friday at lunchtime and had a mushroom cheeseburger with tater tots. It was a MOUNTAIN of tots, and I only ate about half of them. I had a low-points dinner, a small cranberry ciabatta roll, 1 oz cheese and two servings of fruit (citrus salad, and mixed berries). Part of the problem is not having a real plan for lunch, so I delay, and by the time I actually get to lunch, I am STARVING. This did not happen on the days when I had a decent breakfast.

But, it was enough to derail the scale. I was up 1.6 lbs. I think I can attribute at least half of that to the high-fat, high-sodium meal less than 24 hours before weigh-in. Sometimes, I wonder if I do this deliberately so I have an "excuse" if the scale moves the wrong way. The rest of the week wasn't perfect, but it was generally better and twice as disciplined as normal.

I will keep with the breakfast smoothies. In fact, DH found some sort of "smoothie packs" at the store and bought them. I haven't looked closely but they appear to be concentrated fruit with perhaps a protein boost. They are frozen and you add them to the other ingredients. I will post more when I have tried it. I think that "scratch" smoothies might be better for you - yogurt, milk or juice, fruit - but I only started the smoothie thing a couple days ago, and it's cool that he's being supportive.

Eileen in OR