Week 1 Pt. 2: All Things in Moderation

Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand. (Isaiah 41:10 NLT)

 

Can I just say a sistah is HUNGRY!!! Well not actually right now but that was pretty much how I felt all last week. Hopefully this week my body will start to get use to the lowered calories. I also have to be a little more strategic about which meals are my larger ones. I'll survive but I wanted to be real. Hunger pains are real y'all. I just keep giving myself mental pep talks. 

God is with me.

I can win.

Keep going.

This reminds me of my days on the tennis courts.

It always feels great to be victorious over urges though. I have two February dinner dates that I plan to thoroughly enjoy so I need to handle business now. I know it is all in my head so my #1 advice right now would be to keep your head space in a good place.

 

Here is my recap for the rest of last week:

Wednesday-I think being busy definitely helps you to eat less. I was so busy that I only had a few minutes for snacks and had to have my lunch on the go. When I did get a minute to breath and the hunger kicked in, I treated myself to some sun chips. I swear when you are trying to eat healthier, not so healthy foods taste 10x's better. But, then later my mom made hot water corn bread and I had 2 pieces. I had all kinds of internal convos to keep me from eating a 3rd. I had to do 2 minutes worth of jumping jacks to not be over my calories. That may sound like nothing to you, but it was tough but I really broke a sweat because I didn't mess up my goal only a few days in. My extra built in days were for real indulgences.

Thursday-I made it with only 2 snacks! Huge win. I think my mind is getting trained. God bless fun size candies. I was able to indulge in a Hershey Special Dark Chocolate. 40 calories of pure goodness. I was able to resist the yummy temptation of Munchkins. I knew if I went for it, I wouldn't have come out victorious.

Friday-I promised one of my students Chinese for lunch. Not too bad on the calories but you have to watch the portions. I opted for vegetable spring rolls and fried chicken wings (who knew this was a good thing from a Chinese spot). I love spring rolls and they are very filling. I was supposed to have a little get together with some girlfriends but the weather said uh-no. So, since I had prepped the night before, I ate some of our treats with ebony and ivory. They were more interested in the strawberries than the cookies---that was a first.

I tried a recipes for fruit pizza's (if you want to make this low calorie get reduced fat everything except the sugar cookies) and apple chicken sausage (if you make this, choose the apricot preserves wisely. Depending on the brand you by, you could add 100 extra calories for no reason). All of these recipes were wins and not too bad on calories either. I think the key to hosting when it is not a full dinner is choosing smart things to serve and pace yourself so you don't over eat. Also, eat lighter during the day so you have some extra wiggle room calorie wish.

The Weekend-This is where I usually struggle the most. I love making different types of pancakes or desserts on the weekends so instead of giving up something that I know I will do once this is over, I just planned ahead. It was raining and cold so I didn't walk outside so I stuck to the foods I planned out on Saturday (which included more fruit pizza's, cheese pizza, and fried fish--keeping it real). I also tried a very good slow cooker Banana Nut Oatmeal recipe for breakfast (I added a little brown sugar and another banana to the recipe--I would also add a few more of the spices). Who knew homemade oatmeal tasted better than the store bought and it was very filling.

I was going to go to Zumba like I used to do with the ladies at my church but I had to take my son to his own gym class. This is why I need to get a new treadmill for the house. Working outside of the house is never guaranteed and it is just too cold/wet to be outside these days.

Sunday evening though, I dove all the way in and ate more fruit pizza's than I should have. So I ended up eating about 2,000. Normally, I'd mark this as a total fail and just keep eating but given how I haven't been eating the best on weekends in the past few months, this was still a victory. Rome wasn't built in a day. The lesson though is if I am going to try a yummy recipe, make only one batch. 

Overall-I am convinced that eating healthy is a mind game. Hopefully I can stick with it and it will eventually become more of a habit. Drinking all this water (106+ ounces a day) sounds good but these trips to the bathroom are not a game. I didn't quite drink that much water on the weekend though (I drunk around 70 ounces). I am in it to win it though. Me and my husband are killing this plank challenge though.

I pray for the strength to keep the momentum in week 2. Grad school starts back up so I will really know the struggle.

When it comes to desserts for now, I think I will stick with cookies. Cookies are way safer than cakes or brownies because you can control the portions better and count them easily for tracking. This journey will be very real so desserts will always be apart of my life so as I find smarter dessert choices, I'll be sure to share.

Continue to pray for a sistah please!