Lead Us Not into Temptation

It seems that the meteorologist took my more water goal to heart.  We've had showers or storms or sprinkles every day for the past week or so, but spring is still coming.  The water really does help make me less vulnerable to the snack monster, but I can't wait to get over this phase where I need to know where the closest facility is at all times.  As I recall, that improves as the water habit becomes well established--am I right?

I've had a fairly good week on the exercise front, too.  Three walks on my river path and two workouts at the gym.  Our gym has a computer-linked system that keeps track of the workouts.  Mine me me with a plaintive "Where have you been" message when I went back for the first time since my surgery (2 months).     I'm doing almost all the stations in my normal routine, but, as per doctor's instructions, I've stepped back the weights and upped the repetitions.  The rain has put our evening bike rides on hold this week, but tomorrow bids fair to enjoy a nice ride in the late afternoon.

You might remember our youngest son, Jay, who lives with us.  He is wonderful at eating (and liking) whatever I put on his plate.  He does, however, love soft drinks.  He usually takes a diet coke (or diet A&W) in his lunch and we usually keep a good stash of them in the garage.  We've had to talk to him about chugging them down when we're not home, but it wasn't too bad.  Lately, he's gotten into the (bad) habit of sneaking cans of coke up to his room.  I saw him go into the garage with his winter coat on (75 degrees outside) and walked in to find him stuffing cans of coke into his pockets.  Another talking to.

Yesterday, late in the afternoon I heard a loud noise in my kitchen.  Some investigation revealed an exploded can of diet coke in the ice cube box in the freezer.  Jay admitted to the deed.  We talked again.  I tried to explain about how liquid expands when it freezes.  I tried to make it clear that he was limited to only 1 can a day.  An entire roll of paper towels gave its life to the clean-up.   When I was making dinner, I went out to the garage to grab a bag of peas from the freezer in the garage.  TWO more exploded cans of diet coke.  Jay was confronted with the mess.  He was very sorry.   While I was talking to him, I noticed 4 additional cans in the freezer--not yet exploded.  The upshot is that DH and I decided that we won't keep coke in the house so Jay won't be tempted.   DH took the rest of the cans to work.   I confess that I just closed the freezer door and left the mess for another day.  That freezer needs a good cleaning out anyway.

All this made me think about my temptations and how they call to me.  Jay's problem is easy.  We can totally cut off the source.  He doesn't shop by himself, so can't get any unless someone gives him some.
My temptations are not so easily dealt with.  I avoid what I can (candy aisles, bakeries, the Krispy Kreme donut shop) but some temptations throw themselves in my way.  I'm trying to redevelop those say-no muscles.  Right now I'm feeling strong, and that's good.

How about you?  Do you have any great ideas for turning away from temptations?

Paradigm Shift

I subscribe to WikiHow on my igoogle home page.  It  has interesting, useful,  or totally off-the-wall articles on how to do things.  Like How to Change a Tire on your Bike.  Most useful!  Or,  How to Cut out Perfect Paper Snowflakes. Interesting.  Or, from last week, How to Winterize a Livestock Barn.  Hmmm.

Today's article caught me by surprise:  How to get Lots of Candy on Halloween  I guess there was a time when I'd have been very interested in doing this, but this evening when I saw it, my reaction was totally different. I don't want to have anything to do with Halloween candy and I certainly don't want or need to know how to get "lots" of it.

I avoid Halloween candy.  I've learned (the hard way) not to buy it until the afternoon of October 31st.  I've given our son Jay the job (privilege?) of opening the bags of candy and doling it out to the little ones who knock on the door.

Jay is a super-hero where candy is concerned, he doesn't like candy and doesn't eat it.  I was there at his birth and know he must have at least half of my genes. Why is it that he has always had such a healthy attitude toward and it took his mom 50-some years to get that smart??

Don't get me wrong.  I'm not a saint about candy. There are certain kinds that are still very tempting to me. I literally avoid the candy aisle in the grocery store and avert my eyes from the candy displays at the checkout.  I will buy Halloween candy that doesn't tempt me.  I've been known to buy just mini boxes of raisins and might go that route again this year. Besides Jay, I have another ally in avoiding the pitfalls of Halloween candy. DH, as you may know, is a lifetime member of WW and has been at or below his goal weight for more than two years. He doesn't want to take "leftovers" from Halloween night to his work and I certainly don't want them here. We jointly dump the leftover candy in the trash as soon as we decide to turn off the porch lights.

One thing I definitely don't need to know:  How to Get Lots of Halloween Candy!

What's your take on Halloween Candy?

Funk Recovery

Yesterday I had a funky day, diet wise.  It was Thursday, and one of the days I watch my grand babies.  It was also a record-breaking hot, muggy day.  The babies arrive early and are here for 10+ hours.  I love 'em to pieces and we have fun together, but, somehow, yesterday I was feeling frustrated.  J still takes short-ish morning and afternoon naps, E takes a long afternoon nap.  The awful weather outside, the fact that the double stroller ended up at their house this week,  and their scheduled naps and bottles, made me decide not to try any outings yesterday.  My scheduled exercise on Thursdays is a gym date with DH, after supper.  But I was feeling antsy and cooped up in the house.  I think the kids felt it too, because mild-tempered J used his brand new teeth to bite E's little leg when she wouldn't let him touch one of her toys.

The cooped up feeling led to my old enemy Mr. Munch making his presence known.  I ate my good breakfast and my good lunch, but was sorely tempted by the kids' pretzel sticks and E's peanut m&ms (a potty training reward).  Fortunately my pantry is swept pretty clean of some of the big players in the bad snack department, but I remembered that there is a stash of York peppermint patties (reader beware, don't fall for the Costco size box, like I did).  I started remembering how much I enjoy popcorn, too.   By the end of the afternoon, the score was Mr. Munch -1,  Me- 0.   DH got home, I fixed our nice OP dinner and we went to the gym.

I felt disheartened by my succumbing to emotional eating, but was able to climb back onto the high road and it's yesterday's news, not today's.   I totaled up the points of all my  munching and was somewhat consoled to find that I ate only about 7 points worth.  Not everything I ate was a bad food (popcorn's okay, and the piece of whole wheat toast  is okay, too), but I want to be more in control of what I'm eating.  I get to choose and plan, not Mr. Munch.   Do you hear me, MM??  Hit the road.

My weight this morning had a little blip up, but I'm sure it will go back down.   I did a 3 mile run first thing and DH and I plan a long bike ride after dinner tonight.  I drew strength from reading your blogs (thank you, thank you) and I did a little reading in Refuse to Regain while I was getting my hair colored.  I didn't enjoy the off-plan eating yesterday, but I am feeling good about turning from that behavior and reclaiming my life.  I'm off to visit my Dad in the nursing home.

What do you do to recover from off-plan eating?

Temptation

I grew up knowing those familiar phrases from the Lord's Prayer: " . . .lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil . . . ." Those phrases really spoke to me today.

You may know that DH and I are wrapping up a trip to Colorado. He had a business conference Wed pm through Fri, but we came on Sunday and have been having a marvelous time exploring this beautiful state. You may also know, that DH (who is a WW lifetime member) and I planned pretty well so that we could stay on plan with diet and exercise during this trip. And, you may have read, in my last post, that I found a WW meeting and bagged a 3.6 pound loss yesterday.

All well and good. So today was the first full day DH was involved with his conference. I slept in and enjoyed my strawberries and cereal breakfast on the deck outside our room overlooking a lake and a mountain. (Cheyenne Mountain Resort gets 4 stars in my book!). Then I spent some time reading in the blogosphere. And then I got my wonderful day. I drove to a very nice mall I'd spotted and got a pedicure (my very first, but surely not my last!). By then it was near lunchtime and I went to a California Pizza Kitchen and (despite nagging temptations from the pizza pages of the menu) I managed to order a nice grilled chicken salad (the Moroccan) with roasted butternut squash, cubed beets, dates, and sliced almonds . . . dressing on the side. When the waitress asked if I wanted a half portion, my immediate thought was "NO!," but I asked how big it was and she said the half portion was plenty. And it was. Victory. I firmly closed the menu on the dessert section (this was lunch time, after all). Then I had another treat. I went to the movies. By myself. I saw a chick-flick (Letters to Julliette) that I'm sure DH would have politely watched, but not enjoyed. There were about 100 people in the theater, all women. And I walked right past the popcorn/candy counter that had the not-so-subliminal suggestion in screaming huge letters, "Buy some goodies! Eat while you watch the show!"

DH and I rendezvouzed at the hotel about 4:30. He wanted to go work out in the gym. I should have gone too, but I didn't wanna. I like my own gym, where I know the machines and the right settings. [Whine] So I stayed in the room while he went to work out. Bad decision. I was leafing through the info in the hotel notebook and noticed the gift shop. I also noticed that it stocked "goodies." What is it with 'goodies' today??? I lied to myself that I might buy something for the grandbabies and went to check out the gift shop [read 'goodies']. I could use a walk, right? I made a show of looking at the t-shirts in the small sizes, but I was really looking for the candy. There it was, they had Snickers, M&Ms, Reeses PNButter Cups, and bags of chips, my favorites. WHAT was I doing?? I threw myself out of the door and walked back to the room. Why is it that I was feeling on-top-of-the-world yesterday with my weight loss, my rediscovered self-control, and today I'm flirting with devil-candy??? And the day was not yet over.

At dinner, DH had an official dinner (to which I was not invited). I knew from the beginning that this was true and tried not to feel left out. I'd had a great pamper-myself day. I made plans of my own for dinner. I'd go to Macaroni Grill. I knew I could get an OP dinner there and there is one close to our hotel. I got there, got seated, and managed to stave off the (mouth watering) warm bread with olive oil. I nipped it in the bud when the waitress started to pour the olive oil into a dish on the table. "I won't be having any bread." Yay me. Bread is NOT my friend. I feasted on the menu discriptions and flirted with the idea of throwing my plan away, just for the night. They have pizza on their menu, too. I had asked for a make-your-own pasta form when the waitress brought the menu. That was my go-to, safe plan. I did it. I ordered a whole wheat pasta dish with veggies & chicken, and a green salad. Hold the croutons, hold the cheese, EVOO based dressing on the side. The waitress asked if I had allergies. "No, I'm a weight watcher," I answered. After that, there was no way I could give in to the desserts. I escaped! I think I've made it through the day. I'm home. DH is watching the end of a playoff game while I write this, then we're going to the heated pool (overlooking the mountain and the lake) and the pool-side hot tub before we sleep.

I hate temptations. I'm not good with temptations. I'm weak. Thank you Lord, for seeing me through today. Please, don't let me fall prey to temptations tomorrow. Or the next day.