Monday, July 26, 2010

Day 8 With a bit of a Struggle!

Day 8 With a bit of a Struggle

I usually write the day’s blog on the next morning when all that could have happened has. But today, I am writing it early in the evening as a therapeutic measure. I need to write now to keep a melt down at bay. See as I discussed, I am on the 2000 a day bank, but reality is such that I haven’t made it most days of the last eight. Well today is yet another of those days. In fact, I have eaten all three meals and some snacking and have a total of 1760 calories. I am full really, not miserable, but full or I guess satisfied is the better word. Well, Kathy and I have found ourselves in a bit of a financial struggle for the last few weeks. I usually have taken it in stride, but tonight while working out the newest get back to even keel, I had a bit of a stress episode. Well, as is probably obvious by now, I was about to go all melt down, and get after the refrigerator with a vengeance!! I did have a bowl of Special K with a cup of milk but that was the worst it got before I got to the keyboard. But, I could feel that old instinct kicking in and had seen this story a million times. But this time, I was going to change the ending! And I can safely say, I do believe I have done just that. This is my new safe harbor; this is my calm in the storm. And, and it is calorie free!!!!

Ok, with that drama behind me, I will go on with my usual report. I don’t know what the deal is, but I was pretty much starving all day. I mean for real starving, not “Shane’s rationalizing” starving. I had my usual breakfast of a two egg omelette, 1/8 cup milk, and a few tiny chunks of sausage for around 240 calories. The difference came in during lunch. Kathy had brought some bread and lunch meat at Braum’s grocery the other night. She didn’t like the bread, and I checked the calories on it. Nice 90 calories for two slices and I liked the taste, so I told her rather than buying my frozen meals this week for work, I would go ahead and take sandwiches instead. I made that decision not realizing that the sandwich, meat, cheese and tablespoon of miracle whip, it came up to 260 calories, which is at least 100 calories less than I usually have for lunch. So when I realized it wasn’t going to be enough, I went to google to find out that pickles are very very low cal! As luck would have it, my coworker’s mom makes me pickles all the time! So I found out that a cup of pickles is around 15 calories. So I took me four spears, which I am guessing was waaaay less than a cup. So I added 15 calories to my tally. It settled me for the moment, but not for long. I went out for my walk at lunch and had to run some errands for work after that. I was really worried because I was totally starving for real and the old me, totally would have stopped for a double cheeseburger and maybe some fries too. Not today!!! I waited till I got back to the office and ate my regularly scheduled granola bar for my snack at 2. I felt less hungry but not satisfied. So about a half hour later, I was back at the pickle jar and even had a couple of the baby carrots I had stashed last week in case of just such a situation. So for total snacks at work I had 240 calories and had 740 total coming in to the supper hour at home!! Kathy had made a stew I talked about earlier in the week and saved it back for tonight. It was a homemade, so I had to do some searching and extrapolating of calories based on some research, but I decided to probably over estimate the supper at 700 calories. I ended out the day with the usual key lime yogurt for 80 calories and the Special K in a cup of milk I talked about in the beginning. My calorie count stands at 1760 at the moment and it will stay that way because I wrote this blog post for just that purpose, to replace old habits with new. The accountability factor in this endeavor is such a wonderful thing! I mean it takes you completely opening up and swearing to be honest at all times, but it is so liberating and therapeutic!

So did anybody else have a rough day? I would be glad to listen to any bad day stories you may have. Just hit me up at my e mail: jsg14342@cox.net.

5 comments:

  1. I had a bad day...totally..yes. But there's no question that even on the bad days I'm going to do something good for myself and my healthy habits...so I drank water like a champ and ate properly. I did a little exercise though not as much as usual.

    It would be awesome if you could eat more fruits and veggies throughout the day. Between that and a little lean protein and drinking lots of water I feel really satisfied most days.

    You're doing great Shane! And replacing habits with better habits is a wonderful thing. Keep doing your best! :)

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  2. My go-to foods to avoid meltdown are a piece of fruit, or a couple of crackers with peanut butter, or a slice of cheese and 2 or 3 lowfat Triscuits. Usually by the time I have put the jars and crackers back in the pantry and washed up the knife or spoon, I've calmed a little and can handle the stress. Oh, and I always have water with that little snack so it'll expand in my stomach.

    Shane, it has only been a week and you are doing great! I know it was no easy thing to go to the computer and write this post instead of eating everything in the fridge. Score one for Shane!

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  3. Hey Shane...you're still going well I see and certainly coming under the bank balance!!! Its amazing how full and satisfied you feel when you make conscious, healthy choices! Yea I had a bad day today. A few days in fact. Too busy and stressed to count calories, drink my 64 oz of water and blog, but back to it tomorrow, and I've blogged for today. Now the stress of finding a house is over...we've put an offer in for one subject to finance. So I can at least get back on track now!

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  4. So you were starving, shortly after your lunch. Your lunch didn't fill you up, and all that carb in the bread didn't help matters. (Carbs give you a short blast of energy, and then you CRASH. Which you did.)

    To alleviate this problem in the future, have a snack at 1 or 2 p.m.! The snack should be a high-protein goodie. Think of having some hard-boiled eggs on hand (about 80 calories a piece), a can of tunafish with some brown mustard in it (70-140 calories, depending on the size of the can). Add a handful of baby carrots, and you should be sustained for another 2 hours, ready for an early dinner.

    AWESOME job preventing a total food meltdown!!! Me, I have a gut-reaction to reach for a box of cookies or chocolate. Great job showing restraint!

    Christine
    www.phoenixrevolution.net

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  5. Yesterday was nuts - car broke down before it was out of the drive - had to pay for tow - then pay for a cab to the airport rental car area - no cars available but a 12 passenger van. Spent the day at 5' running around in a van i could hardly get into (or out of!) Talk about stress. Then work, family and other responsibilities. And lets not talk about money. Had nothing for lunch until a co-worker brought me 94% ff popcorn and a fiber brownie thingy. I did NOT go over my calorie bank, but not nearly enough fruit and veggies yesterday. I'm proud you came on here and posted Shane. As you told me once, "This is how we roll!" :)
    Hugs,

    e.

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