Day 2: Still Writing

Okay, so now it's two days in a row. This is a good sign...

I weighed myself this morning...down three pounds! Just a few more to go till I can go back to maintenance. Yeah!! I can totally get there by the time school starts. Easy.

So, I said yesterday that I'd list some of the stuff I've been doing to keep myself on track lately, including snacky snacks and meal ideas and stuff. Here we go:

1. Special K Cracker Crisps. These are really good, and a serving is a pretty significant one ounce. Given how light they are, that's a lot of them. They have sea salt and sour cream and onion flavors. Both taste like potato chips but only three points instead of five or six. What's more, they don't have that greasy texture of chips. Of course, it's always best to stay away from processed foods as much as you can, but really. Honestly. Sometimes it's just too dang hard, and these are good enough to be worth it. Eat them with some hummus, for added oomph!
2. Golden kiwi. I just happened to see these in passing the other day, so I bought some. They look the same on the outside as the traditional green version, but these are less acidic tasting, less sour, and amazing. The green ones tend to give me canker sores because of the acid, but so far not on this kind. Very summery and all natural (and zero points)! Someone recently taught me to eat them by just cutting them in half and spooning the fruit out of the rind. Much easier than trying to peel them like I used to. Ugh.
3. DelMonte Fruit Chillers. A friend introduced these to me just a couple days ago, and now I'm a slut for them. One point, all natural (no high-fructose corn syrup!), and they have a kind of slushy texture instead of the hard-ice of the old FlavorPops or whatever those are called. I see on the web site that they come in pops and cups both. I've only had the pops, but I'm sure either are equally good.
4. String cheese. Get the part-skim milk version, and you can eat two of them for only three points. I get these at KwikTrip when I'm running around and need something to tide me over till the next meal. They have protein, which will keep you full a little longer. If I eat two, it cures my hunger for a few hours, actually. I've been doing this instead of sugary stuff, even though (of course) I'm always tempted by cookies and those dang rice krispy bars they sell there. 
5. PB2. I think I mentioned this a long time ago, but I'm telling you. It's the greatest. It's powdered peanut butter. They remove the fatty oils and stuff and then you reconstitute it in water to make it back into peanut butter. Frankly, I'm not a huge fan of it that way, but I mix it into stuff like plain yogurt (with a banana in it!!) or my No Pudge Fudge brownies. One tablespoon is one point (as opposed to three points in regular peanut butter). When I want it on toast, I go for all natural, no-sugar-added real stuff. But when I just want some PB flavor, I put some PB2 in something to cure the craving for few points.

That's probably enough for today. There are lots of ways to eat fewer calories without spending a ton of calories...it's just a matter of searching.

Who me? Do I write this blog? Was this my job?

I really want to get back into this blogging thing. I'm up a few extra pounds, and I need to be very conscious of what I'm eating and thinking more actively about making good, healthy decisions. So here I am, back at it. Making a solid effort at regular posting again.
So what's happened to make me gain a little weight? Lack of tracking my food intake. Too little exercise.  Too much indulging in a bottle of beer here, a glass of wine there, a decadent dessert here, a rich main dish there. Just, basically, simple lack of control and drive to stay successful. But that's behind me again.

When I first started gaining a little, a funny thing happened. Several people said things off-handedly like, "You look great. Really rested. Have you been sleeping better?" and "You look refreshed!" and so on. All of which I think are code for "You look healthier than you did at your thinnest." And, to be honest, there were a few times I looked at pictures and thought, "Oooh. Really? I look like that??" Because in my head (and in the mirror), I still had a little stomach paunch, even at my thinnest. I saw the thunder thighs and flabby butt. I didn't see the sunken eyes or shoulder bones jutting out.

So, right. I started gaining, getting complimented in vague ways, and decided that maybe a little extra weight was good for me so I decided it was okay to be a little careless for awhile. I stopped weighing myself. And now it's 12 pounds later. I chose a new five-pound range that's more realistic and maintainable, but now I'm slightly over that window. For the past two weeks, I've been cutting to the weight loss number of points in my WW program and seriously bumping up my exercise again. I haven't lost much, but I also have my period now, which means I am bloated and gross. So I have hope for a few days from now.

And guess what: I. Feel. Great!!! So much better. I love being in control of my decisions, being aware. I've re-upped my vegetables and fruits, cut back on alcohol, and I feel motivated again. I cleaned my whole dang house in one day because I had the energy to! I can see now that my summer lethargy is partly due to my lack of drive to be healthy. My body was irked at me for not fueling it and caring for it properly. Now it's happy I'm back. And I'm happy, too.

Tomorrow, I'll divulge some of my more recent healthy snack and meal discoveries. Yeah! I'm back, baby. I'm BACK!