august 18 in twenty-eight

The eating well challenge is going great, one week in. As I think I mentioned already, last week Tuesday through Friday I ate a healthy version of tuna salad (had avocados and Greek yogurt instead of mayo) for lunch, and for dinners I made chili spaghetti pasta (something I created and like, but I'm sure no one else would. It's .75 cups Brooks quick chili mix, hot variety, .25 cups Greek yogurt, Sriracha to taste, all of that microwaved until hot, and then I mix in penne).

This week I made that egg fried quinoa for lunch (so far so good. Not sure I can eat it every day for five days, but I'm going to try). Tonight and probably every night this week I'm making a goat cheese tomato pasta ( http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Pasta-with-Tomatoes-and-Goat-Cheese-103833 ) with a lemon dill salad ( http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ellie-krieger/chopped-salad-with-lemon-and-dill-recipe.html# ). Both are very simple, but I like being able to come home from work and make dinner. It's relaxing (as long as it doesn't take me too long). Combine that with my morning coffee, and I'm at 950 calories for the day.

The ONLY thing that works for me is to plan out my meals the night before. I plug the food into MyFitnessPal and that lets me know how much wiggle room I have for the day. I like to give myself a 200-300 calorie cushion. Since I'm the keeper of the candy jar at work, it's nice to know that if I do reach for that Reese's cup in the afternoon, I'm not committing a great dieting sin. I can make it work. Also, knowing exactly what I'm going to eat during the day lets me look forward to lunch, or dinner, and it cuts out the part where I'm driving around over my lunch break trying to figure out what I can eat (and then giving in and going through the McD's drive through and eating way too much), or the part where I'm staring at my empty pantry after a long day at work and deciding, screw it, I'm just ordering a pizza and eating half of it.

Eventually I need to figure out how to get my ass back into the gym. I love working out. And with this exam, I can even study while on the treadmill or elliptical, but once I let myself go longer than a week between gym visits, it's a challenge to get myself back. I need to do better about that. Also, I don't work out for weight loss or anything (weight loss happens in the kitchen. I know a good workout regime will help, but for me, thinking of exercise as a weight loss tool only makes me eat more because I justify it. So it doesn't work that way for me), I do it for my health, and that can always be improved. Especially now that I'm almost 30!

Last updated August 18, 2014