I am not a perfect eater.  If I was, I would likely be 15 pounds lighter and maintaining at *that* weight instead of where I have been maintaining.

I have portion sizes down pat.  Meals are easy for me.  I rarely overeat at mealtimes.  Snacks have to be planned in or I will pacman my way through the pantry.  Even when I do plan snacks, things can go awry.  This is usually due to stress or hormones.   When both of those beams cross, it spells  doom.  

There are 2 times of day that are hard for me.  Mid morning I can get pretty snacky (which is true hunger) and the time between cooking dinner and eating dinner.  Dinner time especially is the hardest.  Since I am getting things out of the pantry, I will grab a few nuts, crackers, a handful of cereal, etc., and nibble  These add up fast.

Sometimes  I get food amnesia and forget to record it.  Even if *I* don’t write it down, my body doesn’t know that.  It’s not like my body says “Wait, if she didn’t write it, don’t store any of those calories”.  Don’t we wish it were like that?

Working at home has its challenges, and a big one is the food.  Of course, I do control the food that comes into the house.  (Or mostly, since John is part of the household and can bring in whatever he wants. ). We don’t bring in a bunch of junk food and things like that, but that doesn’t stop me from overeating stuff in the pantry.

Like nuts:

Sometimes I am okay with nuts.  I was for a while, but then I got snacky on them and this week they were not bought at the store.  Off to the dungeon you go, nuts.  Sorry.

Cereal:

This can really be a red light food for me.  John eats a lot of cereal, so we buy it.  Again, sometimes I am fine having it around.  Other times I will get a small bowl of it like this. Doesn’t seem so bad until I have done that 4 or 5 times.  That’s a serving and a half.

One of John’s favorite snacks is chocolate chips.

This is his bowl by his computer.  Who walks up and snags some chips out of his bowl?  That would be me.

I took this picture and John was thinking I was going to make some comment about his snacking habits on the blog LOL! Nope, just my habits.

Interestingly, I have yet to have an issue with dried pineapple.

I love this stuff, too.  However, the most I can eat is 2 rings, and usually I just eat one.  Why this food is different than some others, I don’t know, but I am okay with that.

I know I have mentioned before that when there is a food in the house that I start having a problem with, I get it away from mouth eye level and it goes up here:

That doesn’t completely stop me from getting stuff, but I would say it is about 90% effective.  I forget about things up there, too, which is good.

I don’t take a snapshot of all these snacks during the day.  So I hope that no one thinks I eat perfectly all the time.  I don’t have it all figured out and struggle with this sometimes.  Just puttin’ that out there.

Some days you just have to fight the eating, you know?  Today was one of those days.  I won the battle, though, at least so far.

It was usual bagel day this morning.  We thought about biking, but it was 30 degrees.  I am getting antsy to get back out on the bike regularly again!

My wheat bagel with cream cheese.

This will actually keep me full until lunch with the 2 big cups of coffee I drink along side it.  One of the few breakfasts that I eat that lasts for such a long time.  Bagels are pretty much the only bread I eat anymore.

I was busy right up to lunch and didn’t notice because I wasn’t super hungry.  I made a quick plate to nosh on.  Lots of pieces makes the meal last longer.

I also got dinner started after lunch. I threw some marinade in the crockpot with boneless chicken thighs.  I know crockpot meals are easy, and yet I forget to use it so often.  With working at home, you would think I would take advantage of this stuff.

By the time latte time rolled around, I was hungry. I thought hard about having something else with the latte, but I had my food planned out for the day already.  Most times the latte does me pretty good, but I had some snack thoughts implanted in my brain.

You always read from experts to ask yourself, “Which is more important to me, the food or the goals I am trying to achieve?”  Of course, we all answer the goal because we are supposed to.  But what about the answer that comes immediately after what we are supposed to say?  As in “I don’t care, give me the cookie!”  That is the tough part to struggle through.

So, when I started cooking up veggies to go with the chicken, John was also making something.  He always brings something  to his poker night.  Normally I don’t have troubles with what he makes because they aren’t *my* type of snacks.  However, tonight John made my personal crack:

Sugared pecans. With a touch of smoked sea salt.  I adore these nuts and I can binge on them like nobody’s business.  Of course, I was already hungry because it was dinner time and I nibbled on the small broken pieces, because you know the calories on those don’t count, right?

I could really feel myself teeter on the edge of just chowing down and saying “I am going to eat whatever tonight because I feel like it.”  It’s been probably 6 weeks since I have felt like this. That precipice is a hard place to back down from.  I had maybe a half ounce to 1 ounce of nuts before I got the brakes on.

Here was dinner, btw.  It was quite good.

My literacy learner cancelled for tonight, so I knew I would have a problem if left alone at home with said nuts.  John usually will leave some of whatever he makes at home just to have around, which, again, is not normally an issue with me – but not the nuts! I asked him to take all of them with him tonight so I wouldn’t be tempted.

Not sure what brought on that real desire to eat.  The bagel? Could be.  The sugar in the nuts?  Probably.  Who really knows.

I did go out for a 3 mile walk tonight after dinner – a very windy walk, I might add.

Now at least there are no nuts in the house, but I also need to just have my planned snack, which is a glass of almond milk and some fruit.  If any nuts do return with John, at least I can plan them in to a snack sometime this week and not go overboard now that I am prepared for them.

Well, exciting football news today is that Peyton Manning is now with the Broncos!  Bye Tim Tebow.  I am actually pretty excited about this – when does football season start??  Not soon enough.

Another fabulous day with lots of sun.  I have more sprouts!  These are in those TP tube pots that I made.  See how they fit perfectly in my peat pot holder?

The Teddy Bear sunflowers.  I can’t wait until these get in the garden! There are either some laggards or dud seeds in there, but I will give them some more time.

My legs were a little tired today from all that biking, so it was a rest day for me.  I made up some breakfast:

Oats cooked with egg whites and topped with the apple cranberry topping.  I have been eating this a lot lately.  I think in the last month I have eaten more apples than I did all winter!  John is the big apple lover in the house.  I like apples, but there are other fruits I like better and choose first, but this topping is nummy.

I planned out all my meals/snacks last night, which I do like to do (less thinking on Mondays is always better).  I had my latest go-to snack:

So a full update on breaking my extra nibbling habit.  It has been about 3.5 weeks since my last snack binge.  I have been really pleased with myself on how I am doing.  I don’t know if a habit is ever really broken or you just don’t go back to it.  I have gotten off the snacking habit before and fallen back into it, so I don’t know if that is a behavior I will ever really change or just have to avoid forever (depressing to think about).  The mints have been a great tool for me to not nibble.  I also tell myself that if I *really* want to nibble on something, then I can have a protein drink with some fruit.  If I think that isn’t appealing, then I tell myself that I am not hungry and just want to nibble.  That does make me feel irritated sometimes, but I do have 3 snacks planned into my day and I just don’t need more than that.

The absolute hardest time for me is while cooking dinner.  Especially when John has his plate partially made and it has something like potato chips on it. I tend to grab bites off his plate and that is so automatic for me that I have to consciously stop my hand from reaching out.  I also try not to eat off of my own plate while I am cooking because even though that is planned food, that isn’t helping break the habit.

So, I will just keep muddling along.  I have to ignore the scale.  When you have a victory like several weeks of no extra nibbling, doesn’t it seem like you should be rewarded with a big march down the scale?  Yeah – I think it should, but it doesn’t.  I am just concentrating on being a fit female instead.

On to lunch!  This is a apple chicken sausage.  We haven’t had these in a while and I don’t know why.  They are tasty.

I have a lot of roasted sweet potato and parsnips from yesterday, so I will be noshing on those this week. Unless I get tired of them, which could happen, or if John eats them, which is unlikely  Although he did eat some last night.

Work was really busy today. That always makes it a good day.  I have been getting more productive as well.  I have been doing transcription for a little over 3 years and I feel like the last year or so I have really hit a good stride for production.  I definitely takes a few years to be really comfortable at this job and to be productive enough to make good pay.

I did stop for the snack, though.

I finished up all my work and went out for a walk before dinner.  Just a 2 mile walk to kind of stretch out my legs and do active recovery.  It was absolutely beautiful outside!  Lots of birdies singing and the grackles are back in town, so you really know it’s spring.

I liked that turkey burger that I had the other day with the laughing cow and salsa, so it made a reappearance for dinner.

I need to try this with chicken.

Tonight’s evening snack is blueberry sauce topped with ricotta cheese with some protein powder mixed in.  I think this could either be served warm or cold, but I think warm is good.  I made this up for later and will reheat it.

I ate extra carbs today to make sure I am replete from the biking.  Off to settle in with my snack!

Question:  Share a victory you have had lately, whatever it is!

Thanks again for all the updates on the Healthy Heart Challenge!  I will get them posted tomorrow.  There are some great pictures!

There will be 3 winners!  One person will get some home roasted coffee (you are so lucky!     ), one person will get coconut flour and coconut butter, and a third person will get 2 bars of Lindt Intense Dark Chocolate – 2 different flavors.  Stay tuned for that!

After a good night’s sleep, I was raring to go for breakfast.  I made up the applesauce version of the 1-minute muffin in the waffle iron and topped with blueberries.

So good.  I really like the 1-minute muffin done this way better texture wise than just in the microwave.

Yesterday I ate too much food.  It was a lot of snacking.  I felt hungry all day.  I never really know if I consider it a binge or just overeating.  Do you have a definition or distinction between the two? I guess it doesn’t really matter because the end result is the same no matter what you call it – to the tune of an extra 900 calories.  That was an eye opener when I logged it all. But, just move on from that.

Anyway, today I wanted to up the protein and nix the wheat today.  Lunch time included another pumpkin protein shake.

Plus mango.  I spent a little extra money on the sliced mango at the store yesterday because it just sounded so good – and it was  😀

I had a nice busy day at work, which made time go by fast.  John made up my latte today, which I had with a square of Lindt dark.

I finished up work in good time today and got in my guitar practicing before dinner (unusual for a Monday).  I am working on a new piece and it is a little frustrating.  Maybe this December I will post me playing that piece. Now there’s a goal!

More protein for dinner.  Turkey burger with laughing cow.  Plus brussels sauteed in coconut oil.  I did snack on some potato chips while cooking dinner, but I logged them.

We have a nice quiet night planned. It’s always nice to start off the week with a quiet evening.  So, after riding the trainer for a bit, I am going to get into flannel  jammies with my book!

I conked out way early last night.  We both did, actually.  I woke up at my usual time (which meant more sleep – yay!). John did not like waking up when I normally get up  😈

It was a drizzly and gray morning.  We headed on out for bagels:

I have a nice broken blood vessel in my eye, too.  One of those that take forever to go away.  Makes it look like I really tied one on, you know?  😳

I am smiling because this was waiting for me!

I was supposed to meet with my literacy learner today, but he didn’t show up.  He called a half hour later that he just woke up (this was at 11 am).  He has done this before and is late every other time, which is really getting frustrating.  I thought the last time we met and talked about this that it would get better, but it hasn’t.  I need to talk to our volunteer coordinator about it.

That got me wanting to snack. Isn’t that funny?  Well, not haha funny anyway.  I ate some nuts while making lunch.

Leftover chicken with laughing cow and BBQ sauce.  I need to up the ante on my food pictures.  They need to be more exciting if I am going to post them.

Luckily the doctors for work were the good dictators, so I was able to make up good time that was wasted waiting for my literacy person to show up.  Someone wasting my time is probably my biggest pet peeve of all.

Afternoon break of an almond milk latte and a couple egg nog almonds.

John asked if I wanted pizza for dinner, which would have been nice, but

a) I didn’t want to walk in the wind and cold for dinner having already walked in it earlier.

b) I had my quota of bread with a bagel.

c) I have to take John out for football dinner probably tomorrow anyway.

So, he actually walked down to get a couple slices and I made up some popcorn fish.  I also snacked on cashews while waiting.  Too many cashews.

I have a pretty good relationship with food most times, but sometimes I do not with a particular food.  I guess right now it must be nuts.  I haven’t even wanted a cookie, even though they have been on the counter for days.  Just no appetite for them at all.  The nuts?  I can’t keep my hand out of them today.  I can’t figure out why, either.  It’s frustrating.  I may have to banish nuts for a little while from the house.   At least the candied pecans are out of the house.  John took them to poker – along with the remaining cookies! 

And lastly – Another guitar piece. This is a short one from memory.

Welcome Lee to upstate NY.  Not.  We sure don’t need this rain.

If only there was some way to get this rain to Texas. That meant no biking to bagels this morning.

Instead, I did go old school with a Leslie Sansone DVD for a 2 mile workout.  Haven’t done one of those in many months!

It was a cool morning at 56 degrees to sit in the cafe drinking some warm coffee and having a whole wheat bagel.

Such a dreary, dreary day.  I was fairly snacky today.  Guess it is the wheat after all.  That bums me out.  I’m not giving it up, though!

Quick lunch today.  Hands in the air for leftovers!

The pork and rice from yesterday.  Good stuff.  Notice I did not even cut up my pear.  I was just feeling a little weather blah, so I didn’t bother.

Pixie was stuck to me like a burr today  because of the weather.  I would like to think it is because she loves me, but body heat rules.

Would you like to see snippets of my snacks today? This is what mindless/stress noshing looks like.  Note that more than 1 of each item was had (except the latte).

Late July cookies:

Dried pineapple:

John’s homemade granola bars with a latte

I probably ate an extra 800 calories in snacks today.  Stellar eating day, right?  Oh well.  I was not even hungry enough to eat dinner.

I did have some strawberries:

I will likely have some cereal later if I do get hungry at all.  I think this really does tell me how wheat or gluten affects me.

Tomorrow is a fresh new day, though, right? 😀  And it is the official start to football season!