And then there was one

Wednesday night’s dinner was one of my last two Diet-to-Go meals, leaving me with just one.

This was the grilled chicken, with sides of stewed tomatoes and (I think) cauliflower puree. Whatever the green stuff was, it tasted delicious. I’m pretty sure it was a cheesy, very runny cauliflower puree.

I can’t believe it’s already Thursday. That means I totally missed out on What I Ate Wednesday this week.

Ah well. There’s always next week, right?

I didn’t do nearly so well with my carb-watching today, but it wasn’t dinner’s fault. Nor was it Starbucks’ fault. I took my own unsweetened almond milk to mix with plain iced coffee for 40 calories and less than 2 carbs, vs. a whole-milk, sugar-free latte with 16 .

No, I blame lunch. I opted to try one of those McDonald’s Premium Wraps, the Thai Sweet Chili one, with a small order of fries. The wrap was pretty good — but I don’t know if it was 43 grams of carbs good. Nor were the fries worth 26 carbs. I’ll have to remind myself of that the next time I think I want fries.

All told, my day’s intake was 99 g protein (21 percent), 163 g carbs (34 percent) and 96 g fat (45 percent). Because I snacked on an Atkins bar after dinner, I ended up 149 calories over my day’s allotment.

Oops.

Better that than hitting the vending machine, though.

I’m going to bed now in hopes of making it out of bed early enough to take a walk this morning. I totally slept through my alarm Wednesday, and didn’t get up ’til 11:30. No exercise occurred.

I also need to put on my “airport security attire” and weigh in for the Diet-to-Go DietBet that starts Friday. Despite not winning my last few DietBets, I’m going to try it again. Hope springs eternal, don’t you know?

There’s still time to get in on the fun. The concept is simple: You pay in $25, and if you lose 4% of your weight during the game, you split the pot with other winners. The pot’s up to about $2,000. Diet-to-Go is also giving away $50 gift cards to all the winners.

When I won my DietBet, I almost doubled my money. It’s worth a shot.

Canceled my Weight Watchers subscription tonight

It’s not that I think Weight Watchers sucks. On the contrary — it works very well for some people.

Just not for me. Not right now, anyway.

The last month or so, I’ve noticed it getting harder and harder for me to stick to my daily/weekly Points allowances. I’ve been hungrier between meals and found myself snacking — increasingly often — on not-so-great choices. (Jelly-filled Munchkins, anyone? They’re only 2 PointsPlus apiece …)

Over the weekend, I spent some time with the wife of one of the Boyfriend’s tennis friends. She looks fantastic … and she’s a lower-carb advocate.

Anyone who’s read my blog for any length of time knows how often I flip-flop between traditional, low-fat eating plans and low-carb ones. Well, I’m flipping back again … kind of.

We chatted for quite some time, mainly about the importance of finding what works for you — and sticking to it, even in the face of pressure from someone else.

And I realized: Part of my problem is trying to fit my diet into a traditional mold.

When I’m following a WW-type of plan, I skimp on meat and fill up on carbs … sometimes (okay, more often than I’d like) of the processed variety. I’m hungry between meals and always thinking of my next snack.

When I’m doing Atkins, I eat a lot more meat (Mmm … bacon!) and cheese. I’m also fuller, longer and can actually forget to eat.

Seems to me like eating carbs — especially sugary, empty carbs — just makes me want to eat more. I can eat one cookie, then go back for two or three more before I catch my breath. Same with pizza. One slice leads to another … and another …

Carbs may not be the enemy, but the wrong kinds of carbs aren’t doing me any favors, either. What I need to do is cut back without totally cutting them out.

I also need to learn how to better tune into my hunger. Amanda’s Clean and Lean Project tackled the subject in a series of emails this week. Among the takeaways:

— True hunger comes on gradually; emotional hunger is usually sudden.

— True hunger makes an apple or steak sound appealing; emotional hunger makes a cookie sound good.

Simple, eh? Reminds me of some advice from “It Starts with Food,” which was to take a moment when “hunger” strikes. They said to think of sitting down a a meal of steak on broccoli. If that doesn’t sound good, you’re not really hungry. But if it does, eat something already.

Amanda’s email also included a quote from the book “Intuitive Eating”:

“Keep your body fed biologically with adequate energy and carbohydrates. Otherwise, you can trigger a primal drive to overeat. Once you reach the moment of excessive hunger, all intentions of moderate, conscious eating are fleeting and irrelevant. Learning to honor this first biological signal sets the stage for rebuilding trust with yourself and food.”

The idea of intuitive eating still scares the crap out of me. After all, eating what I want, when I want it, has led me to the weight I am currently (and beyond).

I’m ready to try something new. But not that — not yet, anyway. The idea of slimming down without dieting is the Holy Grail of weight loss, isn’t it? To be free to enjoy food without guilt … without wondering whether it’s something you “should” be eating.

I’m still formulating my personal plan. I know it’s going to be a bit lower in carbs/higher in fat and protein, because that’s how my body seems to work best. I’m going to try to limit myself to around 100 grams of carbs a day

I canceled my WW online membership before my credit card got charged for another month. But I still want to try to get most of my eats from the WW Power Foods list.

I also downloaded the  free “Lose It” app. (There’s an upgrade option with even more features, but I haven’t got that yet.)

I told Lose It that I want to lose 1 1/2 pounds a week, and it tells me I need to eat 1,777 calories a day. Not that I really want to count calories … but the app is making it easy so far. That barcode scanner finds everything! I’m amazed.

Tuesday’s results: 89 grams protein (23 percent), 116 grams carbs (30 percent) and 83 grams fats (48 percent)

And that was with an after-dinner snack of MuesliFusion (20-plus grams of carbs). I added a Tablespoon of Trader Joe’s Cookie Butter, too.

OMG — now I know why everyone raves about that stuff. It was so worth the hype — and the 8 grams of carbs and 6 grams of fat.

Yum-O!

And now that Im nodding off in front of the computer, I’d better stop writing now.

Going for two losses in a row

This weekend’s softball game was the first one this season I’d been able to play in, having been laid low with food poisoning for the first game and driving back from Utah when the second one was scheduled.

Sadly, it didn’t end well. After being ahead the whole time — by as much as 4 or 5 runs at one point, the other team came back in the last half of the last inning and beat us by one.

Oh well. It was still fun to play. I even managed to make contact with the ball in my first two at-bats. Of course, I hit it right toward the pitcher, and ended up getting out at first both times … but at least I hit the ball. (Longtime readers of the blog will know what a feat that is!)

Sunday morning started off with a breakfast sandwich. In the mix: 1 egg, sauteed spinach, a Gimme Lean sausage patty (2 oz. of “meat”) and a Laughing Cow garlic & herb cheese wedge, all atop a Sandwich Thin. Delicious!

I do wish I’d cooked the egg just a little longer, though. The yolk was still really runny. Better for sopping up with the bread, I guess.

With breakfast in my belly, I headed outside for a long walk — 43 minutes and 2.52 miles long, to be exact. I had to make up for not walking Friday, the day I slept ’til noon.

I didn’t take a dedicated mile-long walk on Saturday, either, but at the end of the day, my pedometer said 1.6 or something — clearly more than a mile all told. But I don’t even need to count that mile.

That’s right. When I total all the mileage my Nike+ recorded for the week, I logged 8.27 miles. More than enough to qualify for walking 1 mile a day for 7 days.

Thanks for the push, Mel. Your Summer Walk Challenge has gotten me moving again.

All that was left by the time I remembered I wanted a picture.

When I got back home, I whipped up a light lunch: This Strawberry Shortcake Smoothie from Carrots N Cake. I’d pinned it FOR-ever ago. (It was actually the first pin on my Smoothie-Palooza board.) I knew I had all the ingredients in the kitchen, so I gave it a whirl.

I don’t know why I waited so long to try it. Simple, but tasty. Filling, too. It was so good, in fact, that I started slurping it down before I remembered to snap its photo. I used Vega Vanilla Almondilla protein powder, strawberries and unsweetened vanilla almond milk, along with a little vanilla extract and extra ice. (I like my smoothies THICK.)

After lunch (and a few too many games of Candy Crush), I headed to Starbucks. As I was pulling in to the parking lot, my writer friend texted me to say she was headed to Starbucks. Great minds … We spent the afternoon there, working. I was on such a roll that I didn’t go to the movies at 4, like I’d planned.

I left Starbucks at around 5:30 so I could run to Target and pick up some dinner before the softball game. My dinner ended up being a Whopper Jr. and value-sized onion rings from Burger King (11 Points). I didn’t feel too guilty about it, since I’d walked earlier in the day and had a game to play.

I also didn’t feel guilty about the chocolate-dipped cone I grabbed after the game. Yeah, it happened again. Now I need to forget how delicious those things are, because I don’t have 6 WW Points a day to devote to chocolate-dipped ice cream cones from McDonald’s. The only reason I had the Points Sunday was because I’d earned 7 Activity Points.

By the end of the night, I ended up using ALL my FlexPoints and 4 APs.

But I’m still pretty confident I’ll see a loss on the scale this morning. Factor in Sunday’s game, and  I’m hoping for two losses in a row!

Today marks the start of Amanda’s Clean and Lean Project. I’m both excited and scared, as my eats aren’t particularly clean. (Note the fast food dinner above.) Even when I’m eating completely on-plan, like I did for breakfast, processed stuff works its way in (*cough* Sandwich Thin).

This is going to be interesting, for sure.