Ooops! Almost Ate Too Much.

Today was a perfect example of the reason why it is so important to log your food.  I ate very healthy today and I thought that my calories were going to be way under my calorie budget.  I was surprised to see that I was only 3 calories under.  Eating just one more ounce of cheese or even adding an apple or the papaya that I have sitting in my fridge would have put me over budget.

For lunch today I tried the Taco Salad from the website Damn Delicious.

It was very delicious and filling but the fact that it has extra-lean ground beef (recipes calls for chorizo sausage), shredded cheese and an olive oil lime dressing also means that it has approximately 300 calories more than salad that I had yesterday.

It wasn't a workout day so I did not eat any carbs besides the tortilla chips on my salad.  I should note that when I say I am not eating carbs on non-workout days that I am referring to bread, pasta, rice, crackers, etc.  I am NOT referring to any type of fruit or vegetable that officially contains carbs.  Fruits and vegetables of any type will not be excluded at all from my diet.

I noticed that I have started to shift the way I think about my diet.  Usually, if I had upcoming events that involved either eating out or baked goodies I would think to myself "I am going to be overeating on those days so I will have to workout harder and eat less now" or even worse "my diet is going to be blown this week anyways so I may as well eat what I want today".

Today was different though.  Today my thoughts were "I wonder if the Pub serves anything that doesn't have carbs" and "too bad I won't be able to sample the goodies at our Friday afternoon tea at work".

It is a promising start.  When I quit smoking I felt the same way as I do now.  I had made the decision and any temptation to smoke again was gone.  Yes, I had cravings but I could look at those cravings and say "no, that's not what I want to do".  I avoided places and situations that I knew would cause me to fail.  I made different choices and those choices came from a place of power not a place of weakness.

Previously, when I tried to change my diet I felt like an addict.  I knew I should eat better and that overeating was keeping me sad and depressed and tired but I just kept jonesing for a hit of sugar, carbs or junk food.  It didn't help to say "I can't eat that" or "I can eat that but only in moderation" because as soon as I thought of not having those foods I would start jonesing again.

I don't know if the difference this time around is that I have actually put down quite a lot of money for a personal trainer or if I finally have reached the point where I don't want to spend another year feeling like this.  Whatever the reason, I think this time I will reach my goal.  Booyah :D

Below is my food, exercise and calorie log for today.