Be prepared

I know I've mentioned it before, but it's just so true - to succeed in losing weight/eating healthy, it's important to always be prepared. I do well with healthy eating on the days I'm in the office, because I bring a healthy lunch (and snacks) and that's all I eat. The downside, however, is that lately I've been starving by the time I get home at night, and I am challenged to keep my portions small at dinner (when my meal size should be light).

Last night, I got home from work and I was ravenous. I don't know why. I had a breakfast bar and yogurt for breakfast, a breakfast bar as a snack, a lean cuisine for lunch...I think that was it, but still, that is normally plenty of food for me, but not yesterday.

Darcy made a delicious lean steak salad for dinner with some baked french fries. It was just what I wanted, and so good. I had seconds. I neeever have seconds. Later on, I wasn't hungry anymore, but I wanted snacks - I think because I had been so hungry all day long, or maybe I was feeling pathetic from being so tired with a headache and an achy knee - I have no idea, but I had a 1/2 cup serving of BEN & JERRY'S ice cream! (Cha-ching - just a small 1/2 cup serving is 250 calories) Later, I had some light popcorn.

All in all, I ended up having 1562 calories yesterday. It's not a horrible amount, but it's 352 over the limit I've given myself. I like to have one day a week when I have a meal of whatever I want, and I don't mind going over my allotted calories that day because it's planned, and I don't think it hurts the metabolism to have a little calorie spike from time to time, but I don't like going over my calories due to unplanned snacking.

Today I was down another lb or so from the TEN I was up, but I still have 6 more to lose to get back to where I was last week. I know that if I just stay within my calories, drink plenty of water, watch my sodium intake and make sure not to eat after 7, it will be gone in a day or two. I just have to do the right thing.

On the upside, I've been getting in a lot of fiber lately. It's something I really need to focus on. The past 3 days, I've consumed about 25 g/day, which is perfect and not so easy to do, so good for me. When I'm first adjusting to fiber, it makes me bloated too, so that's not helping my predicament, but it's helping my health, so that must be more important, right? :)

Since I've been so hungry at work the past few days, I decided to bring in some healthy, low fat snacks and foods to the office with me. I also brought in oatmeal, sugar free carnation instant breakfast and multigrain cheerios so that I'll always have a healthy, substantial breakfast here even if I forget to pack my food for the day for some reason.

If I have the snacks I need during the day to curb my hunger, I can get home at night, eat a small meal, and be finished with eating by 7pm. That's my plan, and I know it will work - it always does. I just need to be prepared.