Portion Control

Admittedly the day is not over yet, but it seems to have been the first really good eating day that I've had in a long long time!

I was in the shower this morning and an ephiphany came to me. "Why not have a really balanced breakfast? Why not cut back on portions?" And so I did.

It started at pill time for the dogs. I am currently hiding their pills in cream cheese. Three pills for Cosmos in a fingerful of cream cheese. 1 fingerful of cream cheese for me. Three pills for Sunny in a fingerful of cream cheese. Another fingerful of cream cheese for me. Give Sunny his eye drops, and yet another finger of cream cheese for me before putting the 5 pound Costco container back in the refrigerator. Probably worth 150 calories or more if I was being honest. But who's counting? After all, if I eat it in the fly standing up, it doesn't have any calories, right?

Well, this morning I thought "Let's just see if you can give the dogs pills without sampling yourself!" And you know, it wasn't all that bad. Yes, there was a moment of regret as I put the tub o' cheese back into the refrigerator, but it was fleeting. And then I thought, 'Instead of making toast (2 slices) with tomato, avacado, and cream cheese for breakfast, maybe you should have protein. And maybe it should be portion controlled." And so I settled for one egg instead of my normal two (I've had two since the beginning of the program) on one of my new OroWheat Sandwich Rounds (2 mini slices of bread for 100 calories total) with a slice of tomato and avacado on it, and a side of 1/2 cup pineapple.


As I was making up my breakfast, I took a picture and woefully thought to myself how pitiful it looked. Way too small to satisfy me. But then I assembled it on the plate and it didn't look so bad. Less food than I had been used to eating as of late, but adequate.

I carried my food to my computer as I am likely to do, ate breakfast, and checked the web. I fully admit to pangs of wanting to eat more. No, I wasn't hungry. But I wasn't full like I am used to being after breakfast. Soon, though, it was time to leave for Slimmons.

I was really afraid as I left my condo. Did I have enough to eat to sustain me? Will I be insatiably hungry when I get home for lunch? Should I have taken some fruit or ??? along with me 'just in case?' Of course, the 'just in case' scenario would quickly have turned into an "I have to eat it on the way down to Slimmons because it's in the car" situation, so I resisted. And worried that I didn't have enough before class.


My worries were for naught. Not only did I feel just fine all the way to lunch - several hours later - but I actually felt better in class than I had for a long time. Like I had the proper nutrients in the proper proportions and I had energy but was not weighted down!

When I thought about it (which I did), I realized that I had a protein, a starch, vegetable, and fruit for breakfast. Very well balanced. No dairy, but that's a hot button food group for me, and not something I will eat before going out.

Eating a good breakfast set me up for a good day. Upon arriving home from Slimmons, I had oatmeal with blackberries and 1 TB of Raw Sugar. Later, a TJ's Egg White Salad on 5 Ak Mak Crackers. For dinner, I made my special Cous Cous using 4 chicken tenderloins cubed, and all of the vegetables left in the fridge from the week. (Tomorrow is Farmer's Market day.) There's enough Cous Cous made up for several meals forward. And I just had another of the 100-calorie Oro Wheat Rounds with Country Crock for a snack. I'm stuffed at just 1415 calories for the day!

After posting this to my blog, I'm going to go into the kitchen, clean up from dinner, and use the rest of my week-old veggies to make up a tomato pasta sauce in the crock pot. Give Cosmos his IV. Put away the laundry I did earlier this afernoon. Finish knotting up a crystal-and-pearl necklace I started earlier. And get to bed early.

All in all, a good day.

Do I think my troubles are over now that I've gotten a good day under my belt? Of course not. In fact, not by a longshot. Old deeply engrained habits have manifested themselves over the past few weeks, and need to be broken again. It's just not that easy.

But what I think I proved to myself today is that there is room for the newer habits... the ones only a couple of years old... to come out again.