Keeping it up!

My new eating habits are going well.  What I miss most, I think, is the carbs.  I'm a carb-o-holic, and I know it.  Bread, pasta, rice, you name it, I want it and in huge amounts please.  So cutting back on my carb intake is really very difficult for me. 

I've also given up drinking soda, even the diet kind.  Even though all diets I've looked into (Weight Watchers, Nutra System, etc.) seem to allow diet soda in whatever quantity you want, I'm not comfortable with all the fake sugars, dyes, and what not.  Besides, drinking water is great for you, so I'm feeling good with the decision.  :)

This evening my dinner started with a salad (as usual) and then was followed by two small chicken tenders cooked in tomato with garlic powder and onion, along with a small amount of potatoes with onion and steamed broccoli and green beans for my veggies.  Really delicious and really filling. 

Quote #2: "Instead of giving myself reasons why I can't, I give myself reasons why I can." -Unknown

Dinner!

Here was my dinner this evening:

(Steamed Spinach, Noodles, Tilapia, Salad with Sesame Ginger Dressing)

I bought a new salad dressing today!  It's Sesame Ginger--a little sweet-sour type tasting, and at only 45 calories, I'm pleased :)  I'll still have to use up my remaining Caesar, but this is a much healthier switch.  The Tilapia was cooked on the grill (you can see the remnants of the foil used to cook it) with garlic and onion powder, salt, pepper, and some spring onions on top.  I absolutely adore fish, and all seafood really, so I have a particular fondness for the meal.  The noodles?  Probably not very good for me, but my mom made them for dinner and I didn't have time to make me an alternative carb so I just ate what she made. 

I'm feeling really good today, after having ran this morning and eaten well all day.  I've also gone ahead and made a Weight Loss book for myself.  Basically, I took a nice notebook I had lying around and on the first page wrote down what I was allowed to eat for each of the three meals during the day, followed by a list of acceptable snacks.  I also wrote down a list of everything I could think of to busy myself, to help prevent snacking.  I fully recognize that many times I eat just because I'm bored and there's nothing to do, so hopefully my own personal activity list will help inspire me to do less unhealthy things :)  There's also a page dedicated to my actual weight, which I will record every Sunday.  Sundays, by the way, are my "day off," from dieting.  Not that I can go wild or anything, but I don't run on Sundays (mainly because church in the mornings prevents me and it's far too hot in the afternoon) and if I want to treat myself to going out to eat, I can.  I've read many articles and books that say if you don't give yourself certain times when you let yourself indulge a little, you'll never keep up with your diet.  

The final pages of my book are dedicated to quotes that I find particularly useful in helping me stay on track, so I've decided to share one with you everyday as well.

Quote #1

"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising everytime we fall." - Confucius

Ouch!

Today I started running again, and my body is certainly reminding me that I've taken the last month and a half off.  Back when I was still in school, I was running 3 miles straight, and working my way up to 4, but today I couldn't even run a single mile without stopping.  I did run an entire mile, but I had to take a couple breaks.  Slightly upsetting, but I'll get back into it.  Gotta keep a positive attitude, right?

New Beginnings

I'll admit it--I fell off the wagon a bit.  Not reaching my goal of getting into my "Wish Dress" as I call it, was extremely depressing.  I felt like such a failure, even though by the end of school I had dropped 21 pounds.  But like so many people, I ended up focusing only on the bad and not at all on the good.  Well.  The past is past, and now it's time to more forward.  Starting right now.

Breakfast this morning was a bowl of Fiber One cereal and strawberry Fiber One yogurt.  A lot of fiber?  Yep.  Trust me, I need it.  I also fully recognize that flavored yogurts aren't the best of foods to be putting into my body.  Artificial sugars, dyes, etc. are not my ideal choice for food, but being lactose intolerant, I get very little calcium in my diet.  However, yogurt contains a natural enzyme that allows me to digest it even though it is made from dairy milk.  What about Greek Yogurt, you say?  Three words:   I hate it.  In truth, I really don't like the taste of yogurt, and I only enjoy eating the flavored kind because it masks that sour-tangy taste. 

Anyway, here's a picture of today's lunch:

(Salad with Caesar Dressing, Campbell's Chicken Mushroom Barley Soup, Clover Roll)

I've done this diet before, in the months prior to when I left to study abroad for a year in Japan.  I ate a salad and a bowl of Campbell's soup everyday for lunch, which was a bit monotonous, but really worked.  So I'm starting again.  This soup is a part of Campbell's "Light" options, which I find reduce the fat and calories a little and the salt a lot.  I'd never tried this particular variety and I found it to be okay.  Not my favorite, but I did enjoy the mushrooms and barley.  Oh--and the little roll in the corner is homemade by myself :)  I'd like to try whole wheat one day, but we only had white flour in the house.

Anyway, I feel better about myself now that I'm trying again.