Sunday, March 29, 2009

Random Insanity...

Just bits, here and there.

Yesterday I got a great reminder of why I track my calories. I ate my usual breakfast and had a late lunch of a Lean Cuisine French bread pepperoni pizza (and hey, when did the calories go from 290 to 330 on them?), and spent a couple of hours doing laundry, vacuuming, cleaning the bathroom and kitchen.

While I was in the kitchen, I found a can of garbanzo beans (or chick peas, if you prefer) in my cupboard and decided to roast them, ala Lyn. Which is something I've been meaning to try ever since she posted the recipe, but I had held off because I kinda had a sneaking suspicion that I would end up eating the entire batch. You know where this is going, right? Yeah, so an hour later, I was done with all of the housework and had settled down on the couch with my dog, a book, a nice glass of iced tea and a little dish of the roasted garbanzos. Which I kept refilling. Now, honestly, the entire can does not make that much, as they shrink after being roasted. But I had seasoned them with sea salt and red pepper, and that apparently was a winning combination to my taste buds! I figured oh well, I'll just count this for my dinner and call it a day.

Cut to about four hours later and guess what? I was hungry. I tossed around ideas in my mind as to what I could eat and satisfy my stomach without going waaaay over my 1,200 calories for the day. I finally logged onto myfitnesspal.com, added in what I was thinking of eating and guess what? I was only at 1,347 calories! If I hadn't been keeping track, I could have gone one of two ways: Either not eaten anything, and been miserable all night, or I could have gone with the ever-popular "I've blown it now, might as well eat whatever I want" attitude. But since I was able to see the actual calorie tally, I was brought back to sanity and fed my body what it needed.

Lessons learned:
  1. I should listen to my inner self; I knew a salty, crunchy snack would be bad news for me.
  2. Don't give up the day just because you make one bad food choice.
  3. Tracking calories really does help me.

And here's another example of my crazy mind: I woke up this morning having dreamed I was somewhere with a friend, trying to figure out the calorie count of a dessert made with strawberries and ice cream. Argh!!! Let me sleep in peace!!!

Have a great Sunday, everyone!

10 comments:

  1. Thanks for visiting my blog. I love yours! I'm going to add you to my blog roll. :)

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  2. the biggest thing for me in this post? when I said OH I SO KNOW THAT FEELING! is that you said you knew the salty wasnt the way to go and did.

    that you knew you should have listened to that inner voice.

    Ive been there and, the positive spin for me, is always the fact that next time I can listen :)

    I dont know why I still oft ignore in the moment---but youll have that I guess since we're only human :)

    happy monday!

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  3. I'm just getting started with this blogging/weigh loss plan and am really resisting the counting calories...but after reading this post I am seriously reconsidering! This may actually be the missing link for me.

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  4. I love the lesssons that you listed! I avoid certain desserts because I know I won't be able to stop.

    And I'm working on #2 & #3.

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  5. Check out my blog when you get a chance. You have a blogger award. :)

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  6. It's amazing how well counting calories works when you do it consistently. I'm considering an I-phone just so I can do WW on the go!

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  7. Lyn's roasted garbanzos are great - I also have trouble with portion control on salty snacks and also have eaten an entire can's worth. At least they are good for you!

    I love the "adjust as you go through the day" approach to counting calories . . . I always do that when it comes time to decide whether/what to have as an evening snack.

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  8. hey, I added you back :)

    I need to get back to tracking, I'm always way off on what I think I had too :)

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  9. i track too :) But didn't before. It really does help and I like to see what kinds of nutrients I'm getting/not getting too.

    LOVE the beans in hummus ;)

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  10. LOL at waking up trying to figure out the calorie count of something. I STILL fall asleep many nights going over calorie counts.

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