Only one weekend outing, no events. Was able to have a delicious meal at Red Robin for less than 500cal. Been on a Smartpop kick (2.5 cups only 160cal is crazy). Pepperonicis and pickles as always, protein oats/smoothies/puddings, turkey taco salad and quesadillas with the leftovers, frozen sour grapes, butcherblock chicken sausage (110cal for 3), and too many sandwich wraps to name. It was a solid week! Cheers!
Tuna with hot sauce & everything seasoning + Quest chips, sugar free frozen grapes for my sweet tooth, a California club sub bowl from Jersey Mike's + jalapeño chips I was able to fit in that day, sandwich lettuce cups, low carb chicken quesadilla, and one of my daily chia oat puddings with fruit. I'm on my shark week so I tend to get really hungry, really tired, and crave sugar even more than usual.
Not really a hack, rather some organization & swaps that have worked for me so far. Old way: coffee table with full candy dishes & a See's chocolates tin my husband would keep filled for me of all my favorites. New way: same dishes, same coffee table..Just now filled with sugar free taffy & lolis (Zolli brand) + built bars. By my spot on the couch I've got a basket of ready to grab snack swaps for when we watch movies or our weekly show (90 Day Fiance): protein popcorn, shameless gummy candies, coke zero minis, different flavored gum, and flamin hot fries. I've recently come across the idea of "air snacks" (i.e. snacks that are puffed, contain more air) so when I'm craving hot cheetos, now instead of mindlessly eating from the bag I have a pre-made serving size portion that's 20 cal less than regular hot cheetos + 12 pieces more with choosing the fries. Not pictured here, but just as valuable: a fridge full of all different pickles, peperoncinis, and fresh fruits for snacking. *These aren't every day foods, just things to help when cravings hit. I'm someone that can't sit still on the couch without eating, so having better options or gum to chew really helps.
Got my son a practically new in box Kingom Hearts edition imported Japanese 3DS. Matched a case with the black/touch of pink colorway + keyblade Keychain. He's stoked! And I'm stoked for him..I would've freaked if I had this as a kid. It's been fun to revisit these KH games with him.
LtoR: chicken sub bowl (Hella mustard, my fav), pesto protein pasta + steak, eggs with chicken sausage & 2 corn tortillas + small chia banana pudding cup, Brenton crackers with tuna salad & peperoncinis (My obsession), choco chia oat pudding with banana & honey, taco salad, birthday cake chia oat pudding with Greek yogurt & berries, nacho style baked potato, Jersey Mike's #44 sub bowl minus tomato + blue cheese sauce & add good thins crackers (too tired to make something at home. This was $12 don't recommend), mixed greens salad with skinny girl raspberry vinegrette + feta + apples + cucumber + walnuts. *My biggest staple in my health journey is adding breakfast to my daily meals and eating them before 8:30am.
I am absolutely miserable at the thought of obsessing about food like this for the rest of my life. It's like I have a choice to A. Hate myself (my body) but enjoy food, or B. Hate my food but enjoy myself (my body). It's not as dramatic as "hating healthy food", it's the thought of completely rearranging my life to fit this calorie obsession: trips to the movie theater and not getting my popcorn, candies, and blue slushy..birthdays, celebrations, holidays...holiday cookies and treats..going out to eat (cheesecake factory, crab boils, pasta, etc).. I'm one week in and I've had to completely disconnect my diet from the rest of my family's (husband + two kids). I have to log every single thing that goes into my mouth via myfitnesspal, and I plan and cook meals. It exhausts me. I've been here before many times...I've done KETO in the past for like 9 months solid. Most recently I tried two different GLP1s and neither did anything but make me incredibly sick all the time. I was always skinny before having kids. I never had to worry a second about my relationship with food. I was "blessed" with a high metabolism. So being overweight now..obsessing about what I eat..it's not something I am used to and I'm miserable just realizing this is my turning point for forever. I keep trying to tell myself I hate myself more than I hate tracking and restricting food, so get over it, but there's an emotional tie with food that's extremely hard to break.
To add, my doctor thinks I've held onto weight because I don't eat enough meals throughout the day (never breakfast, rarely lunch, usually just have dinner) and that I don't pay attention to the health or calories of the food that I do eat. She was very taken aback & sad when I said I hate myself. I don't think that's anything new or sad, it's just blunt and I tend to say the quiet part out loud. What is sad is the fact that I have hardly any photos with my kids over the past decade because of this. That's time/memories I'll never get back.
All this to say..If I need to be gentler on myself, can you relate and what do you do/ what have you done? any tips on motivation, self love, and redirecting my way of thinking and my philosophy around this?