Sucess by imprisonment?

Hmmmm, off schedule, off routine, had to eat from the cafeteria, stress and skipped snacks...all the tiggers! I was set up! All the evidence was against me! Thank goodness I was imprisoned by my day, chained to my desk. We all set up our days, weeks, lives such that our day to day activities flow thoughtlessly from one the next. I leave my keys in the same place. Every day. So that I don't misplace them. I set up my life like this, some things consciously, others without thought. Not carrying cash keeps me from visiting the vending machines, full of chocolate-y caramel-y nougat-y evil deliciousness. The fact that the vending machines are two floors down helps keep me away too. Some things that we set up are very conscious; where we put our keys, how we choose one route home to avoid traffic, how we don't keep sweets in the house. That's a good one, not keeping sweets in the house.

Did you know that the more effort we have to put into obtaining superfluous calories, the less likely we are to eat them?  Yeah. Funny how our laziness can save us pounds a year! Brian Wansink writes about this in Mindless Eating. What this means for me, is that the two flights of stairs is a great barrier between me and that Milky Way! The candy dish in the front office however, needs more between it and me than a few yards of easily navigable carpeted space. So, if I won't go two flights of stairs for a candy bar, I'm even more unlikely to leave my apartment and walk down the street for one. If the candy bar is already in my house and I don't have to do so much as put on a pair of shoes, I'm having chocolate for dinner!

So, at work, I keep the snacks and sweets out of my desk. Or rather, I forget about the ones that are there. This kinda saved my butt. Because I'm not willing to leave my office to find chocolate, my self-imposed office imprisonment saved my butt when facing stress, cravings and temptations.

 

Standard regular everyday breakfast...3/4 cup Uncle Sam cereal with approximately 1 cup berries, 8 oz. skim milk and  a medium coffee











Yummy salad with grilled steak (from the cafeteria!), mixed greens and herbs, tomato, cukes, carrots, purple cabbage, sunflower seeds and red peppers. I added a little olive oil and red wine vinegar.

And for dinner during class, turkey and swiss on 5 grain with spicy mustard, lettuce, tomato, carrot and cucumbers. Yup. Cafeteria food has come a long way!







Tomorrow will bring it's own challenges. I still need a full shopping trip and will have to buy my lunch tomorrow. Maybe a walk to Panera if the weather's nice?