Taking my own advice

Today started off as a good eating day, deteriorated and then I made a comeback! See, weekends are tough for me. My schedule is different and it doesn't always go according to plan. Sometimes when it doesn't go according to plan, I get cranky I get demanding and I get stubborn. I have to take a step back and do a self-assessment on HALT. What's HALT? It stands for Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired. I think I hit up lonely and tired today. How did this manifest itself? I was irritable and I snacked almost non-stop. For me, it's important to stop and think about why I'm eating when I snack. I know that I eat when stressed or bored. I also eat when I'm depressed. It's important for me to know what's going on with me so that I can work towards a solution rather than take in a gazillion extra calories.

Tonight, I was lucky enough to find some inspiration to get me out of my own head. I was all settled in, jammies on and sitting in front of the computer at 7pm. Ya know what I did? I got up, got dressed and went for a run. Yup. I went for a run. Nothing big, there was some walking, but I went for a run. So, if you saw that girl in red who was a little too big for her spandex, it wasn't me. I was the one in blue with the jiggly butt and tummy. But seriously, I feel sooo much better for having exercised and for taking action to get myself out of my funk! Now, I just need to duplicate the run during the week...I'm running a 5K this coming Sunday.

My running route was about 3.4 miles. Like I said, I had to walk some, maybe 3 blocks. For those of you who are baseball fans, the lights of Fenway Park lit up the night sky on my route this evening! The most important thing is that I took action towards a solution to improve my mood, and my butt! And now? My thighs are gonna be sore tomorrow, but it will be such sweet agony. Taking action, when action is called for, to improve a situation, it's living in the solution. It's recognizing that I'm not going to get everything perfect every time. And when I don't get something right the first time, I start at one and go again without getting discouraged. I take an appropriate amount of pride in knowing that I tried and I learn from and own my mistakes. Kinda like my food...

Again with the mushy food and Panera for breakfast!

Wonderful healthy fruit salad snack, with my grande americano in the background.


I forgot to photograph my lunch at Panera---Greek salad with black bean soup, a baguette piece and cranberry hibiscus tea.

And here's where my day started going bad. Well, sorta. I had a mini whole pita and roasted red pepper hummus before this.

Still doing some boredom eating, I had two cantaloupe spears.

After my run, I hit a home run with a healthy dinner!! Steamed broccoli, some spaghetti squash and 4 oz of thinly sliced pork chops. I tried something new with the broccoli, I steamed it using chicken broth instead of water. I think I'll get some vegetable broth and try it that way...I got the idea from a woman I was speaking with on Saturday. I'll talk food with anyone!

Also, the spaghetti squash counts as my starch. In general, winter squashes are starchy and should be counted as such on our plates.