My Next Food Challenge

June was a mixed month for me on the fuel front.

Here's what was good:

1. I successfully completed Run to the Finish's Green Smoothie Challenge. By "success," I don't mean "perfect." I missed two days while at the ALA conference (I tried to make smoothies without a blender two of the days and it just didn't taste good) and another couple after I came down with a UTI last week (the antibiotic I'm on is rendered less effective by milk and milk substitutes and anything fortified with calcium, so no dairy or almond milk or anything like that was allowed; these smoothies just don't taste as good with water--I'm very big on taste). But the vast majority of June saw me downing some greens this way, and I really came to like it. Once I'm finished with antibiotics, I'll get back to smoothies for breakfast.

I never could get Will (or Ruth or Dan) to try a green smoothie, but he liked to help with the blender.

I also won some Vega Energize from Run to the Finish. I'm impressed with Vega products. I know they're good for you....and they also taste good. Did I mention it has to taste good for me to deal with it at all?

2. I continued to avoid sugar except on Sundays. Avoiding sugar on this schedule has become a habit. I love it that I have to remind myself on Sunday that candy is OK. This way, I can have my cake (and M&Ms and chocolate chip cookies and Dairy Queen dip cones), and eat it too (not crave sugar constantly).


Here's what was not-so-good:

1. I went crazy with things like tortilla chips and Stacy's Pita Chips (the naked flavor; they're like crack). I wouldn't say this completely negated the good I'm doing avoiding sugar most of the time, but it partially negated it. My last three weigh-ins have been identical, at 130.8 (most recent one was this morning). In mid-May, I was solidly between 127 and 128. You might think three pounds isn't a big deal, but it is. I can see it in my upper arms, my belly and my thighs.

2. Meal planning went out the window. This is bad not just for my waistline and my running but also for my family's checking account. On the days I was at work, four days a week, I found myself at Alfalfa's, the organic grocery store across the street from my library, every day for lunch (and dinner on Tuesdays, when I work until 9 p.m.). One evening, I bought one of their prepared peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches. At check-out, when they rang me up, I found out they were charging $5 for that sandwich. That's when it came home to me that this meal-on-the-fly thing has to stop.

So my eating plan for July and onward is:
1. Plan meals in advance, concentrating at first on work meals. My eating on the days when I'm home with the kids is better (I don't have easy access to junk food at home, and I hate taking the kids to the store so impulse buying just doesn't happen). It's still sort of aimless, though. I'll tackle that once the work piece is a habit.
2. Stock up on my planned lunch and dinner staples at Alfalfa's on the first day of my work week, which is Sunday. This means apples, nuts, energy bars, bread for sandwiches and finger vegetables like baby carrots and cherry tomatoes. No pita chips, crackers or corn chips allowed. And after that shopping trip, I'm not allowed in there AT ALL until the following Sunday.
3. I also am not allowed in Starbucks or any other coffee shop. I spend far too much money on tea at places like this. Tea is really easy to make both at work and at home, and it's way cheaper.

So far this is going well. I spent money at Alfalfa's this week on Sunday only, ate the lunch I had on hand at work all three days I was there and have no receipts in my wallet from any coffee shop tea indulgences.

I'm hoping these changes will be enough to ease the burden on our checking account and get those three pounds back off. Ultimately, I'd like to see even lower numbers than 127, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Rome, as the cliche goes, wasn't built in a day.