Windfall Treats: Wolves in Sheep's Clothing

Well, I'm happy to report I managed to get through one whole day (yesterday) without eating food I shouldn't. And the reason I was able to do so was that I avoided five occasions where I could have eaten but did not.

The first was at breakfast time when my husband suggested I have leftover ham with my egg. First, I imagined how good that ham would taste with the egg I was eating. Then, I tried to figure out how I could eat the ham without going off my eating plan. I didn't want to start right out blowing it, after all. After seeing that it was only 9 AM and that if I were to eat the ham it would have to come out of my lunch time protein allotment, and that in three hours I was going to be hungry again and would probably not be satisfied with a smaller amount of food, I decided I couldn't afford to indulge. So I just had my single egg with toast and juice and enjoyed it.

The second was a true windfall. While at the library I saw that cake was being offered to celebrate a library achievement (there are many for our wonderful library). It was ordinary looking cake, but I was kind of hungry having just walked about a mile to get to the library. I was sorely tempted. But then I remembered that I was not going to eat cake or other sweets that day, and said "No, thank you" to the young woman who was offering it.

I had brought an apple with me to eat if I got hungry on my walk, so after leaving the library I ate my apple and was satisfied with it until I got home.

The third was a typical dilemma for me--being hungry in the middle of the afternoon. Once I got home from the library it was 3 PM, still too early for dinner, so I had to eat something to tide me over until dinner. Having no bread or meat allotment, I chose to have celery with leftover milk from breakfast (in tea).  That worked for a while, but then dinner wasn't until 5 PM, so in another hour I had to have something else. I decided I should have the rest of my milk in some raspberries with a teaspoon of sugar (and added sweetener).  That kept me from being hungry until dinner. But I really wanted something more substantial. I get panicky when I'm hungry, but in truth I will be hungry every two hours no matter what I eat so eating just enough is preferable to eating something highly caloric.

The fourth eating occasion occurred when I was cooking dinner--choosing something that works with my diet is difficult if I'm hungry when I'm preparing it. I managed to make something tasty that was within the bounds of my plan, but I had to really concentrate on doing that and taking the extra time to weigh and measure everything to avoid "eyeballing" quantities that turn out to be too much, too late to do anything about it. When I'm in a hurry on the weekdays, it will be more of a challenge, I think.

The fifth occasion was when I prepared my nighttime snack. I had yogurt and pineapple, but when it came time to add granola, I wanted to add more than one tablespoon but did not. It turned out that one was plenty and I felt virtuous and also satisfied.

So, it looks like each day is fraught with peril.  Just getting through the day, I feel like Frogger trying to get home having to avoid obstacles like speeding cars or alligators. (For those of you too young to remember, Frogger was an early video game.)


Frogs trying to get home, some (red) not making it

The rewards are great if I can successfully navigate the treacherous passage to eating control.  But since the ultimate payoff is way down the road, I'm going to start rewarding myself for each of the perils I avoid each day.  Yesterday I earned 5 credits.  That's enough for an hour of mystery reading! We'll see what today brings.

Until then . . .