Turning A Corner

I've been a little more relaxed the past few days. I'm finding as each day passes, I am getting a little more comfortable with my eating routine. Yes, there is still a little anxiety there, and I still cling to one or two Opti 800 shakes a day (breakfast and lunch), but I am starting to branch out and experiment with a few things. Utilizing the MyFitnessPal Food Tracker every day is really helping -- I have found if I consume between 1,200 - 1,300 calories a day, and don't exceed the allowable fat and carbohydrate allotments, I stay in my comfortable weight range.

What is really working well is having a few different dinners I alternate between each night, and then my yogurt concoction (and occasionally a 100-calorie bag of popcorn) at night. My dinners are primarily salads, made with a protein, veggies, occasionally legumes, and tossed with a vinaigrette I make. Examples include:

4 oz. salmon; baby spinach leaves; capers; thinly sliced red onion; cucumber; Vinaigrette dressing (basalmic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, Dijon mustard, garlic, shallot, salt and pepper)

2 oz. Albacore tuna; hard-boiled egg; spinach/arugula salad blend; capers; artichoke hearts; par-boiled green beans; white beans; 2 tbsp Bolthouse Farms Honey-Mustard Yogurt dressing

4 oz grilled chicken breast strips; baby spinach leaves; cucumber; thinly sliced red onion; sundried tomato strips; Vinaigrette dressing (above)

The nightly yogurt concoction is easy to whip up and very, very good. It consists of:

1 cup 0% fat Stonyfield plain yogurt (OR 1 cup no-fat Greek plain yogurt); 1/2 cup berries (blueberries/raspberries/strawberries); 1/4 - 1/2 c. Fiber One cereal; roughly 2 tbsp. crushed nuts (walnuts, pecans, or sliced almonds); and Splenda. Now, you have to be careful with the nuts -- they are caloric and fatty (although very good for you). Personally, I love them so I splurge occasionally and go to 1/4 cup. Also, if I really want to make this a special occasion, I will take 1 Ghiradelli extra dark chocolate square and crumble that up and toss it in there.

The repetitiveness of my eating options really works well for me as far as controlling my eating goes. Some may not like eating the same thing every day, but I am finding it works out very well and keeps me on the straight and narrow. It also allows me to go out for a dinner once a week and still be okay. Granted, my meals out are, for the most part, very low-calorie -- I check the menus on-line before I go out -- but I feel comfortable having a splurge maybe once a month.

Yes, I still have the cravings almost every night, but I am finding if I drink herbal tea (my new favorite is Tazo's "Passion") and water and chew my gum, I can handle them. I had a slip the other night with some Hershey's kisses but I managed to stop it relatively quickly and my husband hid them. So for the most part, I've been okay. I go to the clinic this evening for my weigh-in and class (not seeing my dietitian until next week), and I'm looking forward to that. So all in all, I'm doing well today. Which is nice!