Diet and TV Commercials

I did well today. Walked for a little over a mile this AM. Did some trimming in the garden before the sun came over the rooftop to broil me. Temperatures yesterday were near 100 degrees. Today was a bit better, only around 90 degrees. Needless to say, I spent most of the day in my air-conditioned home.

When I sat down for dinner this evening, I didn't think much about having the TV on. It's the time of day I catch up on the breaking news. I didn't think about it until I remembered that when I watch TV at night in bed, the minute a commercial comes on, I get cravings for food -- any kind of food -- even if I just finished dinner. I can usually control these cravings because I know what's causing them. I simply hit the ute button until the commercials are over.

It didn't occur to me that the same thing was happening when I watched TV during my dinner. If I watch public broadcasting, I don't have a problem -- no commercials. But network TV is lethal to my diet. Mind you, the commericials can be about anything; they don't have to be about food.

I'm sure the origin of this quirk in my psyche would be very telling, but I don't have the time or the inclination to discover what it is. Suffice to know that I can eliminate the cravings with the click of the mute button.

Chow for now,

The Undaunted Dieter

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Sufferin' Succotash

I just finished breakfast -- scrambled Egg Beaters with salsa, turkey sausage and grated romano cheese. Total calories -- 175. Yes, I do breakfast very well each and every day. I don't crave anything for breakfast, so eggs, yogurt, even sliced cukes and tomatoes can be satisfying.

I've gone to eating vegetables for lunch. I keeps bags of frozen broccoli, spinach, green beans, brussel sprouts, corn, peas, lima beans, turnips and cauliflower in the freezer. Yesterday, I fixed one of my favorites -- succotash -- a mixture of corn and baby lima beans. Add a little olive oil, dill weed and a sprinkle of grated romano cheese (yes, I use this on almost anything) and yum, yum.

The difference between yesterday and other days that I've fixed this same dish is that I looked at the nutrition facts on the back of the package. I would fill a 2-cup Corningware dish with half corn and half lime beans, zap it for 5 minutes, add the remaining ingredients and dig in. Thinking I wasn't eating much more than about 150 calories, I wasn't concerned with measuring. To my surprise, I discovered that 1/2 cup of lima beans has 110 calories and 2/3 cup of corn has 100. See where I'm going? Instead of the 150 or so caories I thought I'd been getting away with, I actually piled up 346 calories and that doesn't count the olive oil and grated romano! Teach me.

Needless to say, yesterday I measured everything and learned a valuable lesson. No matter how much you THINK you know, it doesn't hurt to double check.

Dinner was almost a success yesterday -- 6 oz. of extra lean roasted pork loin and 2 cups of green beans with 1 tsp. of olive oil and sea salt. Unfortunately, I topped it off with who knows how much Breyer's Fat-Free Chocolate Fudge Brownie Ice Cream with Hershey's syrup. But I did take my 2-mile walk yesterday AM.

There is a story behind this. I was craving ice cream -- one of the few things I do crave. I drove over to McDonald's to get one of their dollar sundaes. The line was too long, so I went across the street to Baskin-Robbins. No place to park, so I popped into Albertsons where they only sell ice cream in bulk. Patience is not one of my virtues.

Have a great day,
Candee Lynn Wilson

I'm so bad!!

I have got to be one of the worst bloggers on the net. It all has to do with discipline. Something of which I have very little. I just can't seem to make myself sit down once a day or once a week or even once a month and add to my blogs. It seems too much like therapy, and I really don't have time for that.

I guess it's the same reason I can't lose weight. It takes discipline to stick to a diet. When I want chocolate-peanutbutter ice cream, I want it!! I want it more than I want to lose weight. And that pretty much sums up my dieting experience. A shrink would say I'm missing something in my life and am using food as a substitute. Perhaps, but I really don't feel deprived. Stressed, yes, but deprived, no.

I'm going to try to change. I will try to make a post a minimum of once a week and maybe a one-liner once a day. Why? Because I'm back up to 165 pounds, exactly where I was when I started this blog oh so many months ago. I went down to 155 but couldn't maintain. I'm hoping this blog and my old friends Hoodia (used for concentration -- not weight loss) and Melatonin (to reduce stress - not fight jet lag) will help me get back on track.

My goal is the same as it has always been -- 140 pounds. Right now it seems unattainable, but I've been trying for 15 years. No need to give up now. Right?

Please feel free to add your 2 cents worth here to make me either feel better or worse.