Here we are at the end of another week in the Fad of the Month experiment and things have not gone quite the way I had hoped. This months Fad is salad for lunch and with two exceptions I have held to that. The great thing about not being “on a diet” is that you don’t have to feel any guilt when you’re not perfect. The truth is there’s no need to feel guilt anyway. When you make a mistake (or a conscious decision to diverge from the intended plan) it would be better to simply acknowledge what you’ve done, dust yourself off and move on.
I mentioned in a previous post that I had been trying to eat sensible meals when not eating lunch and that I’d been making fruit smoothies for breakfast most days. And most of the time, I did just that. While this started out as a good plan there was a flaw in my execution. I had purchased a bunch of bananas for my smoothies, but you see, bananas continue to ripen until they turn black and so in an effort to be conscious of my spending habits, I decided to use the bananas I had that were not going to last long enough, to make banana bread. The fact that I had to purchase a pint of buttermilk which I would never use for any other purpose in addition to a bottle of vanilla extract, also not something that will be used regularly and baking soda which I also have no use for otherwise was inconsequential. The fact that the bananas that would have gone to waste couldn’t possibly have cost as much as those three items was never factored in. The thought had crossed my mind to make banana bread and I was sold. The banana bread, while home-made and therefore not filled with processed ingredients and therefore not as lacking as it could have been in nutritional value was, nonetheless, there to serve as a temptation for me. On the other hand, with the presence (and consumption) of the banana bread I managed to forget (for a time) about the four boxes of Girl Scout Cookies in my cupboard. With the final two pieces of banana bread given to Michelle on Wednesday night, I no longer had that hanging over me. On my drive home from work yesterday, however, I suddenly remembered the Girl Scout Cookies and in a flash I had a craving for them. I told myself, “Not tonight. You have to weigh-in tomorrow. You can have some cookies tomorrow night.”
So as I sat in my recliner watching The Biggest Loser and sipping a glass of Chardonnay I remembered again that the cookies were there and I lost the desire to resist (what is it about watching The Biggest Loser that makes me crave unhealthy foods?) and so I went to the kitchen, opened that box of Tagalongs and pulled out five. Only five and the rest of the package went into the refrigerator. Now people, understand something here. In years past, I would have sat down with that box of tagalongs and eaten all 15 of them in one sitting. Possibly without stopping for air or actually taking the time to truly enjoy the flavor. In years past, I would have scarfed down that box of Tagalongs and given serious consideration opening another box. Last night, I ate five. This is a triumph in my mind. I made the conscious decision to eat only five of my favorite cookies, knowing fully what I was doing, having read the box and knowing that a serving was two cookies with 140 calories and that by eating five cookies I added 350 additional calories to my intake for the day.
I only lost two tenths of a pound this week. Not what I expected or hoped for but nothing to get upset about either. You see the way I look at it, if I hadn’t been eating salads for lunch, I would likely have been eating something far less nutritionally valuable and the numbers on my scale would be likely to be far worse than what they were.
So, stepping onto the scale this morning I hit a nice square 300 (isn’t that more round) pounds. But that’s OK. It’s a new week. I acknowledge what I’ve done. I’m dusting myself off. I’m moving on.
Riggledo 