Determined To Succeed

Cravings. What is it about them? They happen all the time, everywhere. Being an emotional eater I’ve had my share of them lately (especially when I had to drop a very unexpected $2K on my car for maintenance) and I wish I could stop. Milky Way bars, egg rolls, cheese fries, Cinnabon, Auntie Anne’s pretzels and more. As I’m writing this, I have a craving for my usual cup of extra cream, extra crunchy (sugary) coffee.

You know how it is when you get a craving for something. Don’t ya? You’re deep in thought about how to save the planet, the report you have to do the next day at work, errands you have to run – it doesn’t matter. Once that craving hits you it’s like all the other thoughts in your head all somehow lead back to that craving and you try to justify it in any way possible…

“It would certainly help me think better about saving the planet/these errands/this report if I had (insert the name/type of craving you have here) in my tummy.”

I even heard from one of my friends on Twitter today who had a taste for birthday cake this morning – even though it’s eight months until her birthday.

Lately, I’ve had one helluva craving for strawberry ice-cream. I don’t know what it is or why but there are times when I’m just sitting on the couch and all I can think about is having a pint of good ol’ bad-for-you strawberry ice-cream. The last time it hit me was just the other night. I was watching the Chicago Bulls get beaten by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Playoffs (I was also craving a little bit of home). I was sitting on the couch wondering how much effort it would take to actually get dressed, drive to the store and purchase a pint. Is that bad? OK, I know the answer to that. “Yes, it is.” But if we had beaming technology I would have been so there at the Wawa (the best convenience stores on the planet) looking over the freezer to find a pint of Haagen-Dazs Strawberry Ice-Cream.

Yum.

I think ultimately I replaced one sweet craving for another. I have done a really good job as of late weaning myself off of Coca-Cola (at least as much of it as I’d been having) so I think at night, when cravings really get bad and my cravings are strongest, instead of reaching for a Coke I want to reach for ice-cream. It just so happens that I’m too damn lazy to get dressed to go get a pint which is a really, really good thing. I have also been doing my best to be Zen about my cravings. I allow myself to have my cravings every now and then so I don’t turn into a miserable, grumpy bastard but I also control them and don’t make them a part of my every day. However, it all means one thing – I soooooo need to go shopping and get some good healthier food in the house. I need to at least follow the advice of the personal trainer, Jorge, I saw recently…

1. Apples and peanut butter is a great mid-day snack.
2. Cheat with a liquid – sugar free Jello, frozen yogurt, water ice or low-cal pudding
3. Cheat with a fat – like eating a cheese steak without the bread, wings, ribs, cheeseburger without the bun

These suggestions may not help me stem my cravings for delicious strawberry ice-cream entirely but seeing my numbers go down gradually on my electronic scale sure as hell does.

Happy Sunday, my friends. As the sun shines it’s early morning light over southern New Jersey I am still feeling nostalgic. Yesterday I listened to and wrote about “Proud Mary,” but today my nostalgic brain thinks not about music but TV.  So talk a quick walk down Memory Lane with me before you start your day or as a nice break from it…

“Now the world don’t move to the beat of just one drum. What might be right for you may not be right for some…”

Do you remember the “just say no” anti-drug campaign from the very early 80s? I was a kid when Nancy Reagan made her guest appearance on television’s number one show at the time, “Diff’rent Strokes,” to tell Arnold (”whatchu talkin’ ’bout, Willis”), Willis, Kimberly and kids all over the country to “just say no” to drugs. (Crap, now’s I’ve got that damn show theme running through my head…bah)

A weight loss journey is a constant thing. If you’re not on the road to losing (or re-losing as I am) you are on the weight maintenance road trying to keep those dreaded pounds from coming back (I’m kind of walking that path, too). And on this constant road I think about how many tempting food situations come up in the course of the day. When shopping at the mall I pass the food court, Godiva Chocolatier or Auntie Anne’s delicious (evil) pretzels.  When I see friends we sometimes go to a bar with not-so-healthy bar food or, like last night, stay at their house ordering really-not-so-healthy pizza or cheesesteaks, cheese fries or fried mushrooms. Damn! And even when I try to be good and go to the grocery store I pass aisle upon aisle, endcap upon endcap and impulse buy station after impulse buy station of tempting snacks (like Hostess Twinkies or cupcakes, Milky Way bars or – gulp – Coca Colas).

It’s enough to knock a food-a-holic like me around and throw me out of whack.  What do all of these situations have in common?  They are all situations that make me have to make smarter choices and “just say no.” Now, how many times during the course of the day do I “just say no?” I have no freaking clue but it’s a lot, I assure you. And it always seems worse on weekends. We’re always surrounded by food but it’s up to us to be strong and steel our resolve and “just say no,” at least in that particular instance, to the extra calories we don’t need.

Can you tell I’m kind of getting twitchy about snack foods? Earlier in the week I described my self-imposed moratorium from Coke as like, well, going through detox. Sometimes there’s such an overwhelming urge to have a snack I literally have to make myself walk away from the item in question to avoid getting and having it. Since I’ve been so nervous about weekends lately I’ve tried to steer clear of bad situations and meals like the ones I described above and “just say no.” (he says as he knocks on the wood top to his desk), mainly because I have lost another pound. Damn, these final fifteen are a bitch. They really are.

But am I perfect? Hell no. I sometimes do give in to a small dessert here or there, or a candy bar or doughnut with my coffee because, as I’ve said before, if I don’t I will be a miserable bastard not just in detox but more akin to a zombie searching for fresh brains to eat. These small tastes taken in moderation keep me sane and also continuously teach me that these things are treats not normal occurrences.

Like the theme song says, what choices might be right for you (or me) may not be right for others so I make my food choices and they are for me that day in that moment. Sometimes they are bad but most times they are good. I want to keep these hard-earned pounds off my body once-and-for-all and I always hope and pray I have way more many good food choices (like grilling foods, eating at home, walking away from the sweets and soft drinks, etc.) than bad ones. Because I like seeing a 238.1 on my scale instead of a 239. I hope you guys can, too. We are all struggling together. Believe me.

And I will apologize now if I’ve put the “Diff’rent Strokes” theme in your heads, too. Your 80s retro TV misery certainly has company. It ain’t leaving my mind any time soon, either…

Welcome to another Friday and another weekend filled with breaks in the routines of life.

Regular readers know I always worry about the weekends. For some reason I think having just more free time or being out and about makes me feel far more vulnerable to snacking and general bad eating. I do my best to keep in mind that weekends are just other days of the week and that I can control myself just as well. But sometimes that’s crap. When I’m out and about – at the mall especially – I just get cravings that seem uncontrollable.

Oh man, do I ever get the urge to visit Auntie Anne’s and get one of her delicious pretzels with gooey dips. Or at the food court, I could sample the foods of the continents. Who am I kidding? Sbarro, Panda Express and Subway are tempting, albeit mediocre, offerings but ones that I am oh-so-close to having when I’m there.

Or even driving down the street I pass my faves on the gauntlet – the Colornel, the Clown, The King and the Red-Haired Girl.  I feel myself drooling at the thought of a big-ass greasy burger, fries and 98-ounce Coca-Colas.

Sigh. Ok. Deep breath. I am within a hair’s breath of the battle of the final ten, the last ten pounds so I can’t be thinking about all that food stuff. I can’t. I have been asked so many times if I ever stumble on my weight loss journey. If I ever get tempted by foods and if I make mistakes and eat them and the answer is a resounding YES. Of course I do. As I say on my podcasts, I am human and I make mistakes on my own weight loss journey. But I make decisions every single day to be healthier and NOT have this or NOT have that so that I can inch ever-so-closer to re-reaching my 225-lb. goal.

So this morning, as I down my cup of coffee, I take another deep breath and head into the work of the weekend with my goal in sight. And that is such an awesome feeling. I head into this weekend tempted but strong. We are all in this together, and believe me when I tell you guys I am in it, too…

…the same temptations. The same stumbling blocks. The same pounds to lose. I DO know how you guys feel because on days like today I feel EXACTLY the same way.

My friends, welcome to Sunday and the first full day of Spring. The weekend winds down and the hours count down to yet another Monday. This has been the best weekend yet, weather-wise, and everyone (at least it seemed like everyone) was out and about enjoying the beautiful 70+-degree day. But for me, there was a shadow looming. A shadow that’s been following me around for days now that I can’t seem to shake (mmmmm, a shake sounds good. Doesn’t it?) And what was that shadow? That spectre looming?

“Snack Attacks,” that’s what.

I think I have done OK overall, both with exercise and eating. But while this was the best weather weekend it has been one of the worst for the “snack attacks.” It’s weird. I have had such cravings for snacks especially at night. I’ve craved chocolate (my precious Milky Way bars), soda (my ice-cold Coca-Colas) and, believe it or not, ice-cream (strawberry, please). I have to say I am sooooo glad I am following this meal plan because it made me go out and buy healthier snacks like Jello and pudding packs, string cheese and my darling clementine oranges. I’ve also snacked on yogurt as a nice compromise for ice-cream. If I didn’t have these in the house I would have gone straight to Wawa and gotten one or more of these, curled up on my couch and watched TV – a deadly combination.

Today I’m going to supplement my weight workouts with cardio as well as some weight training. That should keep my momentum going in terms of exercise. And during that I’m going to continue to try to curb my cravings for my old (and new) kryptonite. Grrrrrr.  As long as I keep telling myself I don’t need it my mind begins to believe it and I win that particular “battle of the bulge.”

Here’s how I did yesterday with my trainer-prescribed meal plan:

Meal 1 Oatmeal (I replaced this with my Kashi Warm Cinnamon cereal)

Meal 2 String Cheese and Yogurt (this I did have)

Meal 3 Lean Cuisine (while I didn’t have one for lunch I took the suggestion and had baked chicken with veggies)

Meal 4 Apple with Peanut Butter (OK, I cheated here a bit and had two egg rolls. I had a taste for Chinese food and instead of giving in full to the cravings for egg foo young or beef fried rice I had these. They did the trick)

Meal 5 Steak, String Beans and Salad (here is where I had a small salad with fat-free dressing, a spaghetti with meat sauce Lean Cuisine and two yogurts for dessert).

It’s so hard sometimes. When I stop for gas or, worse yet, go into the mall I’ve had to resist more and more the smells and sights of Auntie Anne’s, Godiva Chocolates, Cokes, the food courts…all of it. Damn! But here I stand able to say I did resist (for the most part) so I could continue my downward trend.

I will report to you guys tomorrow to let you know how I did today. Hopefully I can resist the draw of a warm pretzel and mustard, a Milky Way or that ever-taunting ice-cold Coca-Cola. In the meantime I’m going to enjoy as much of today as I can before the rain comes and the temperature dips and reminds us, yet again, that it’s not summer quite yet but beautiful springtime…

…no matter how many “snack attacks” lurk in the shadows.