35 Calorie Snack...But Hurry!

Lyn at Escape From Obesity did a post on clementines and ironically, I just tried them for the first time last week and fell in love.  I'm on my 2nd bag now, so I thought I'd mention them in my post tonight, too, in case you haven't heard of them. 

They are 35 calories each, very sweet, and SEEDLESS, which is my favorite part.  I eat 2 or 3 at a time, and with 3 of them being 105 calories, it beats the hell out of those little 100 calorie snack bags of sugary crap.  There are a couple of different brands out there, but Lyn and I both love the California Cutie brand.  A bag of them is $4.00 at Walmart.  You have to hurry though....Lyn says they're only around through February and you do NOT want to miss out on these little jewels of juiciness!!

I almost had a bad day with the calories today....almost.  I was at 1470 calories before dinner and before I hit the gym at 6pm.  I worked out with Billie, we did 30 minutes on the elliptical which resulted in 2 miles, and then worked out on all of the weight machines.  We got done at 7:15pm and on my way home I had an insane craving for Taco Bell.  This is weird for me because I've never been a huge fan of this place.  But I was having fierce cravings for chicken taquitos and I saw a commercial for some kind of cheesy melty roll-up thing.  But I held strong!!  I drove right past it and got home and grabbed a clementine!!  Now I'm at 1505 cals and I'm fixing to have 2 c. of decaf coffee w/ sugar-free creamer.  1 tbsp in each cup will put me at 1535 cals for the day and I'm perfectly happy with that. 

A big thank you to MB at Why The Weight?  I read a couple of her posts today and found out she sent a letter to Santa asking for things for her blog friends, and I was included.  She asked that I get an extension and a great job.  Well Santa must have got the letter, because I got the extension!  It's supposed to last for 10 more weeks.  From my experience with the Dept of Labor, I've learned that this can change on any given week with absolutely no prior notice, so we'll see what happens.  But for this week, for today, I'm able to pay my bills.  Hooray!! 

Also, thanks to Amy at "The Not So Secret Life...".  She gave me an award a few days ago that I've previously received, so it's already listed on my sidebar.  It's the Superior Scribbler Award.  I was sure to tell Amy that I totally didn't deserve it, lol, but thanked her for her kind heart in thinking I did. 

Great workout at the gym and the calories are looking good.  It's been a good day.  Now if I can just string a month of those good days together, I'll feel like I'm totally back in the game.  :)

Rockin' It

Since my weigh in yesterday morning, and my ensuing disappointment in myself, the eating for yesterday and today have been stellar. I rock. Feeling good about my choices and staying under my calorie limits, drinking tons of water, pushing myself on the treadmill.

In fact, today Dwayne and I were out and about, away from home, taking care of stuff for the move at the end of the month, and it was about 3:30. I was soooo ready for a snack, and really needed to eat something to keep the metabolism fired up. We stopped by a convenience store on the way to Home Depot. Finding a decent snack calorie-wise in a convenience store? Yeah right. But I was determined! I need a loss this week!

I kept picking up things and reading labels, taking too long, and Dwayne was getting aggravated. He finally asked me what I was doing, and I told him. This dang snack bag of Doritos is 500 calories! The little pack of mixed nuts is 600!
He said, exasperated, "Baby, look where we're at. You're not going to find a snack in this store for under 500 calories...Gimme a break. Just grab something and let's go." Well that irritated me, I'm the one that needs to lose the weight...not him...so he can shut up and wait.

I kept looking and finally found a pack of crackers for 250 calories...and next to those found a tiny bag of Combos (those pretzel thingies w/ the fake cheese in the middle) that were 230 calories. Aha! Success!! I waved them in his face, he rolled his eyes at me, and we got up to the register. And what do I spy as I'm getting ready to pay for my itty bitty bag of 230 calorie Combos? A basket with small granny smith apples and little boxes of Sunmaid raisins. YES!! IN YOUR FACE, DWAYNE!! lol Yes, I know I'm a dork, but making the best choice on my eating is the priority, not his schedule. So I got my fruit and we were now happily on our way.

Dwayne got some chocolate chip cookies and some Combos and as we were driving down the road, he tried to make nice, and offered me some of his Combos. It seemed like he felt bad that I "had" to eat fruit when he was eating yummier stuff. He knows I do not care for apples, they're one of my least favorite fruits. He even told me they were "diet" Combos, lol, trying to get me to accept his peace offering. I politely declined and merrily munched on my apple...so, so proud of myself.

I had originally planned on cooking some shrimp and crab legs for dinner when we got home. My local grocery store, Publix, has been having some fantastic sales on their seafood this summer and seafood is my absolutely favorite food in the entire world. Love it. Well, my dinner plans didn't work out.

We had a long, tiring day of hauling a load of stuff to the new house, then going to Home Depot shopping for chicken wire, then bringing it back and stapling it up to the inside of the fence, over 160 feet worth, to keep my puppy from slipping through the slats in the picket fence and escaping like she did last week. It was hot, sweaty, dirty work. The wire tears up your hands when trying to unroll it, and having to cut it with wire cutters, etc. To sum it up, it was a total pain in the rump. A lot of bending, up and down, crawling under rose bushes, etc. and we were sooooo sore and just worn out by the time we were done. Dwayne took one look at me and knew I wasn't cooking dinner, lol.

So....his suggestion was our local pizza joint, Mellow Mushroom. They have some of the best pizza I have ever eaten in my life...and knew not to even suggest that to me after what we went through just to get me a snack today, lol. He suggested a calzone for him stuffed with sauce, mozzarella cheese, italian sausage and pepperoni. (I'm starting to drool again)...and a large Greek salad for me w/ grilled chicken (apparently he HAS been paying attention).

At first I declined because I wanted something a little more filling than a salad. Then I did a 180. I decided a low calorie salad was exactly what I needed to complete my 2nd day this week of awesome eating. I ordered it with one serving of grilled chicken on the top, dressing on the side, and REALLY light on the feta cheese....they can get crazy with that stuff. I had 650 calories available for dinner so this was perfect. Again.....so proud of myself. Day 2 completed and I'm going strong.

Then Mom called. She reminded me that tomorrow is the family reunion...the one on her side of the family. I had forgotten all about it. I told her I doubted I'd be able to go with her like I usually do, only because I was completely exhausted, covered in dirt and sweat, and all I wanted was a shower and my yummy salad. I felt like I could sleep for the next 2 days....joints and lower back were killing me. It didn't even hit me til a couple of hours later that it was a FAMILY REUNION. Meaning, some of the best-tasting, fattening, calorie-laden foods that have ever been squeezed onto a table before. I have got some darn good cooks in my family. OH......DEAR......LORD.

After I realized what kind of danger zone I'd be entering, I thought about it for about an hour before I called her back. I decided to go. I enjoy spending the time with my family....many of them I only see once a year at this reunion. I told myself I'm going to have to curb my neurosis about the food at some point, and will have to LEARN how to deal at these kinds of things...not just completely avoid them. The only way to do that is to go.

Of course, I'm sure you all know how completely nerve-racked I am about going. In pre-planning in my mind, I tried to leave most of my calories for the day tomorrow for the reunion at noon. I'll have a couple of hundred for breakfast to kick in the metabolism. I'll hit the treadmill before I even leave the house, again, for the sake of the metabolism. And I went ahead and took some fish out of the freezer and put it in the frig for tomorrow night's dinner, knowing that's low calorie. I have a medley of veggies in the frig that I steamed last night to go with the fish.

Pray for me, lol. The goal is to eat 1 plate....not my normal 2 at an event like this. My 2nd goal is to make at least half of what's on my plate vegetables...leaving less room for all the really good stuff. My 3rd goal is to drink only water....as I normally use something like this as an excuse to drink all the Coke I can hold. I have no idea why, I'm just weird like that.

So...it's time for rest...I hope the insomnia takes a break tonight and lets me sleep. I sure could use some. The quote I'm giving you tonight is one Mom told me several weeks ago, and I will be running it through my head at the reunion tomorrow. :)

Quote For The Day:

"Nothing tastes as good as being skinny feels." -Anonymous