My lovely husband took me out for dinner tonight. Generally when I'm "on a diet" (and more on the cleverly-placed quotation marks later, I've another post brewing about that one), this is the kind of thing that sparks panic, especially the night before weigh in. But - not this time. This time I was determined to put some effort into the situation and to not do what I would usually do: end up either forfeiting the meal out altogether because I couldn't trust myself to behave, or going anyway, adopting a "sod it" approach, eating exactly what I wanted and spending the whole evening and most of the rest of the week feeling guilty about it
I planned today carefully, starting from first thing this morning. I ate my breakfast and then carefully packed up some food for work, making sure I counted everything carefully. It was a balancing act really, making sure that I took enough food with me so that I wouldn't be hungry during the day, but less than normal so that I'd have more than usual left for this evening. On an average day I get home from work with about 15 to 18 Pro Points left over, which is enough to have dinner, have a yogurt or chocolate mousse or something similar afterwards, and usually have a snack of some kind later in the evening,
So - an average day looks something like this (at the moment I have a daily allowance of 40):
Breakfast: Bagel with cream cheese (8)
Mid-morning: Banana (0), pack of Quavers from multipack (2)
Lunch: Soup (4), Ryvita (4), Philadelphia mini tub (1), yogurt (2), Quavers (2)
Afternoon: A Banana (0), if needed.
This leaves me with 16 for the evening. About normal.
Today however I needed to do it differently, 14 Pro Points wasn't going to cut it for a meal out.
So:
Breakfast: Weetabix with skimmed milk, chopped banana and strawberries (5)
Mid-morning: Banana (0), Quavers (2)
Lunch: Soup (4), Ryvita (4), Philadelphia (1), Yogurt (2)
Afternoon: Nothing.
I went through the day eating only what I'd planned, and I got to the evening with 22 Pro Points left and a strong and warm sense of victory. Much better! What I really found interesting (and I'll come back to this thought another day, I think) was that I ate less for breakfast and during the day, and didn't feel any hungrier by tea time than I usually do. This makes me feel a lot better for the future- knowing that when I have to drop my points I will be able to deal with it, in spite of my fears.
Anyway - back to this evening. The next step in my planning process involved one of my most-used Weight Watchers tools - the Eating Out Guide. We were eating at a chain pub in the city centre, and the Eating Out Guide has a good number of their menu options listed. I had a good look through it to make sure I could find something I liked for 22 Pro Points - and I could!
So here I am, at home with my feet up, enjoying a cup of coffee, having enjoyed a meal out with my husband and done it within my daily allowance of ProPoints - and I'm not shit-scared about my weigh-in tomorrow morning. Reeeeeeesult! :)
(P.S. - If you're wondering, it was fish pie with peas and a piece of warm ciabatta. Bloody lovely it was, too!)
Yeahhhhhhh!
ReplyDeleteYep, that sums up how I felt last night pretty well. :D Thanks lovey!
DeleteThat's great, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a little bit of "smug" in there as well. You put the work in, made the effort, learnt a little something along the way and reaped the reward!
ReplyDeleteInteresting to see that you can manage ok during the day on less food and survive until dinner. I find that I'm ok during the morning, my breakfast keeps me going until lunchtime, but I usually start getting hungry at about 3:30pm and force myself to wait until dinner. Perhaps I should keep a bowl of apples on my desk?!..
Thanks Z. :) I'd be lying if I said there wasn't at least a little bit of 'smug' involved. ;)
DeleteI definitely find the mornings harder than the afternoons - I don't know if it's because I do quite a lot more physically in the mornings than the afternoons.
I exercise first thing then have my shower, have breakfast etc, then cycle to get to work - I spend the first few hours of the day rushing around, basically. The afternoons are much quieter - I have my lunch, then often don't physically do much until I come to cycle home - and by the time I get home dinner's not far away.
I think the more I go on with this the more I'm learning that doing it successfully and in the long term is going to have a lot to do with careful and well thought-out management, both of food and of exercise.
Fantastic - it's a great feeling when you start to control your eating rather than it controlling you :o) xx
ReplyDeleteIt really is :) xx
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