May 11th, 2014 Mother's Day Out

May 11th, 2014 Mother's Day Out

Today was a good day off work.  I slept in, prepared a wonderful breakfast, made a trip to Stillwater for lunch with Mom on Mother's Day and I came home and cooked a good meal for dinner.

Mom and I enjoyed lunch at a place called McAlister's Deli.  I hadn't been there before, mom had and she assured me it was very good.  My main thing when dining out is nutritional information. I immediately scanned the menu and didn't see any counts. So I asked for a nutritional pamphlet and I was told all of the information was online, which I had already searched for and was having trouble finding. So I said, "surely you have something with printed nutritional information, somewhere."  And yes, they did.  But they only had one copy. The manager was very nice and allowed me to look it over before ordering as long as I promised to give it back. I settled on the McAlister's Club 1/2 sandwich and a cup of fire roasted vegetable soup with four saltines for a total of 446 calories. I finished and was still slightly hungry and since I had plenty of room in my calorie budget, I started thinking about what I could order next.

This could have been where it all goes bad.  And I almost ordered another 1/2 sandwich, but settled on another cup of soup and 4 more crackers, for an additional 116 calories.  Turns out that was all I needed, because I felt satisfied afterward.

Mom and I had a great conversation, not necessarily about food and exercise--no, we always go deeper. We talked about our experiences and the mental and emotional dynamics of why we do or don't do things. It was a good talk and a wonderful Mothers Day.

I have a list of certain foods I will not keep around my apartment. The list has grown, especially over the last couple of years.  It's a trial and error kind of thing.  I once thought I could keep a box of low calorie reduced fat ice cream treats in the freezer...and I do well when I'm sharing with someone else, but alone it's another story.  I'll keep going back until they're gone.  On the list it goes.  Block cheddar cheese...OMGoodness, I love block cheddar--especially extra sharp.  But again, it's one of those foods I get a little crazy around. Peanut butter--when my oldest daughter Amber was living with me, she would occasionally buy peanut butter.  After one too many trips to the jar I requested she hide the jar where I wouldn't look.  Guess what? That didn't work either. One night, okay--check that--several nights, I'd go on the hunt and eventually find the jar...In the laundry room...very sneaky...she even hid it in a small metal container on an overhead shelf. I knew I had a problem with peanut butter long before I asked her to hide the jar (that I found every time), I suppose I was greatly underestimating my addiction.  What else is on the list?  Let's see...

Bagged chips of any kind
sugar (of course)
Cottage cheese (I occasionally make an exception as long as it's the small container--because even if I ate the whole thing, it would only set me back 400 and something calories.)
Cookies
snack cakes
or any other sugar filled thing
pretzels
saltine crackers (I only eat these in controlled portions, either in a restaurant or as a guest in somebody else's home.)


I bring this topic up because I bought a wheel of Laughing Cow Light Swiss cheese spread wedges last night. As I ate the first two, I tweeted the picture with "Grabbed a wheel of these tonight. I'll see if I can control myself around them..."

There's only two left...24 hours later.  At 35 calories each, not too big of a deal. But I'm being very cautious and very aware of my behavior.

I haven't felt this solid and headed in the right direction since my initial weight loss and that feels amazing.  because I'll tell you--when you're out of control and gaining weight, it sometimes feels as if it's impossible to ever get back in control again.  It's a scary place to be. I've been there.  And I'm here to report and prove, it's not impossible.

I'm so happy, so blessed to be in the mindset I am now--once again.  And now, I'm going to do whatever I need to do to protect it.  That's why I'm documenting each day every night on this blog and that's why I'm tweeting pictures and calorie counts of every single thing I eat--along with the corresponding MyFitnessPal entry. It is what I need to do for me. You're welcome to join me on both!  Twitter: @SeanAAnderson And I'm simply SeanAAnderson on MyFitnesspal.

Thank you for reading,
Strength,
Sean