My husband and I began following Jorge Cruise's "Belly Fat Cure" plan in March of 2011. Needing to keep my motivation up, and also wanting an archive to read back over, I decided to join the legion of those people already tracking their progress.

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Summer is Here

As I look back over May, I see it largely as a difficult month to stay on track. But every month, really, is difficult if you focus on what you can't have.

There was Mother's Day, followed quickly by my mother's birthday, and that meant cakes and such. We ignored their sweets on Mother's Day but gave in to the chocolate layer cake on her birthday and since then have been struggling to get back on target.

I'd be really good all day, and then at dinner or just after I'd just crumble.

Then the guys from our UK office sent me two boxes of chocolates. One box was easy to resist, since I'm not crazy about chocolate and the texture was too thick and hard to swallow for me. The second box was a tray of Ferrero Rocher. I don't know if I'd ever even tried them before, but that tray was gone in under 48 hours. Not all to me, thank goodness, but plenty of it. Made easier by the lack of nutritional information on the package.

I may have said this before, but I heard about a study that says we only have *so* much self control, so that if we are using it for one activity, we will crumble against other temptations. The example given was that of a person being seated in front of a comedian and told, no matter what, not to laugh. The person focuses on that task and then a big piece of cake is placed in front of them. They are using all their self control on the task given that they don't even notice they've eaten the cake!

I can see the truth of this reflected in my own behavior. On a craving-filled day there's nothing I want more than ice cream or cookies or, ahem, a big bag of chocolate covered raisins. And on a day when something is stressing me out? Boom. Walls are down, and I'm halfway through the bag of Raisinets before I know what hit me.

On a good day I'm a BFC angel and can resist the sweets in the break room. I still don't know if I could resist Ferrero Rocher.

The good thing is, though, that I make the healthiest decisions I am able to at any point. I know where the sugar and the sweeteners hide and I avoid it. Even if I crumble and have a big plate of fries with my burger, I'm drinking club soda or water with lime. I still eat a BFC-approved breakfast every day. When I get up and start right at least I have the opportunity to make it a good day. The rest is up to me.

Yesterday I had a modified mug muffin (after it's cooked I add a 1/2cup of almond milk and a 1/4cup of wild blueberries), which I made in a glass storage container because I was running late. It's still good after my 20m commute! Lunch was two supreme crunch tacos from Taco Bell (would have made chicken salad if I hadn't been running late). I had a think thin chocolate covered nuts protein bar before my martial arts class. I had planned to make myself some eggs and bacon when I got home but by the time I was out of the shower my back was killing me and I couldn't imagine standing long enough to cook (and then washing the pans) so I made dessert instead: 1/6 of a sugar free angel food cake, 1/2c of strawberries and whipped cream. So not much fiber yesterday but still a success! My first fully successful day in a while.

Today I got up early enough to make eggs and bacon, which I had with one piece of Ener-G tapioca bread and coffee. Lunch will be that chicken salad (made with mayonnaise and relish to be quick) on a Joseph's pita with some baby spinach. I am so tempted to plant a garden this summer because I am sick of buying spinach just to find it gross and wet in the bag before the expiration date! Dinner tonight will be nachos, made with Bite Size tostitos, a rotisserie chicken, Nature's Promise chipotle salsa, this "taco dip" sauce we found, sliced peppers, cheese, sour cream and onions. Oh and black olives and shredded cheddar. If you pile on the chicken at least you get your protein and it's something my husband will readily eat. I just need to find a way to add more fiber to it.

I've been tracking my food with MyFitnessPal on my phone but I need to come back to their full website regularly, since the app doesn't give a total for each meal, just for the day. It's easy to think you still have room for another two helpings of carbs when you see 80/120 in the daily report, even though you technically had a serving of carbs at every meal! I'm going to try to find an email address I can send a suggestion to for totaling up each meal.

Okay, so I posted at the beginning of May and at the end. I'll try to do better in June, posting shorter posts, more photos of meals, more recipes and less info dumps!

10 comments:

  1. HI there - its nice to hear from you. So you didn't do everything perfect and that's OK. You are trying and that is the most important thing. Do your best of what will work for you.
    Have a great day :-)

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  2. Hi! Honestly it is hard to get away from sugar! Really hard when it's right there at work like that. I truly think if you could not eat any sugar for about one month you would not even crave it anymore. That's what happened to me. Keep away from it for a month and then you can look at cupcakes and candy and not even want them. I know it's easy to say but hard to do, but it will help you in the long run.

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    1. Beth, I completely agree. I think it takes me about two weeks to stop enjoying the taste of sugar (I had a soda once to calm my stomach one day and I nearly spat it back out it tasted awful!). Unfortunately I think it's the 'nostalgia' for certain snacks that are a tradition for specific activities (fresh baked cookies for movies at home, raisinets for movies out..).

      Luckily there are a lot of events for which I'd like to look my best this year, and I just need to remember they're not as many weeks away as I keep thinking - starting with the family reunion in two weeks!

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  3. I felt like May (actually mid-April to mid-May) took some strength to get through as well. Mother's Day, 5 birthdays and Mother's Day. Whew. June doesn't look much better with 3 birthdays, our Anniversary, and Father's Day but each month I do feel like I get stronger.

    I can see where the candy was challenging - Ferrero Rocher are one of my favories(the chocolate as well as the coconut flavors).

    This blog post was chalkfull of great information - thanks for sharing it all. I have never heard of that study but it makes total sense. I'll have to read more into it.

    Love the food that you're making - it all sounds delicious. Have a great evening - Looking forward to your next post! :)

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    1. Uh oh, Kim. I did NOT need to know there are coconut Ferrero Rocher! *facepalm*

      I'll be okay, I'll be okay.. ;)

      The only really toughie this month will be the family reunion, but I think I may just pack my own food. Or at least condiments, since I can probably pick around the worst carbs there and dress it up with hot sauce and ketchup. I have to bring a dessert so I'll try to plan something I can indulge in. Tough, since I'll be flying out there.

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  4. I think that's true, what they say about self control. The great thing about eating low sugar for a while, though, is that it becomes less about self control and more about the memory associated with the food. It's the memory that still gets me now, so I need to find a way to fix that. Welcome back and hope to hear from you again soon!

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    1. Yup I agree, it's definitely the memory of sweets that I cave into, not any actual desire for them! Then they are gone so quickly and I sit there thinking "Great, I messed up for that and I'm all out and still want more!"

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  5. You are lucky/unlucky that the sugar doesn't make you sick. It does me and I think that helps a lot. Kind of like a hangover:(
    My husband and I finally figured out that the plastic tubs that the spinach comes in actually keeps it fresh and doesn't let it get sticky and wet. We can buy the supersize one and it is still fresh and good, where the bag was gross after a couple of days. It is well worth the money when we aren't throwing the spinach away anymore. We have emptied the bags into the used tubs and it keeps it fresh too. It must be the bag? Just a thought!

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    1. It doesn't make me sick, no, but it sure messes up my healthy gut system fast!

      We get our greens in the plastic tubs, too, but they're always in an inner bag and the wrinkles in that seem to be the problem. I think our grocery store just doesn't keep things fresh enough. The onions are always bruised. Onions!

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