13 Points of Guilt

13 PointsPlus Values...

For 13 PointsPlus Values I could eat: 1/4 c of hummus with 11 Kashi Pita Chips, a cucumber, a piece of string cheese, a turkey stick, a peach & 13 of the best animal crackers you'll ever find (thank you, Costco!)  OR I could do what I ACTUALLY did & have my daughter's leftover Panera Mac & Cheese, eaten cold & shoveled in while standing in front of the open fridge...as if closing the fridge is what makes it a problem.  For perspective, I am allotted 29 PointsPlus for a whole day & this wasn't even a meal, mind you.  It was a "snack," eaten in addition to my regularly planned meals.  Budget blown.

Yesterday was bad (I've had worse, but it was still bad).  As is my norm, when I hit a goal I seem mentally obliged to do some backsliding to "keep it real."  At first I was blaming my eating on my exercise up-tick (today will be 9 days in a row--I'm throwing it out there to ensure that I don't flake out on my Zumba class tonight!).  "I need more protein."  "I've been burning a lot."  Or the perennial classic: "I DESERVE it."  blarg. 

Here's what I DESERVE: I deserve good food to fuel my body.  I deserve to be healthy.  I deserve to honor my hard work with pride in a job well done, not mindless binging. 

Lessons learned:

1. When feeling weak, I need to stay out of the kitchen--physically.  If I walk in the kitchen I will forage until I find something & that something is never celery.
2. The kids' Mac & Cheese at Panera is tasty, but NOT worth it...for me or my kid.  Apparently Coraline knew it was a horrible choice because she hardly touched it.  We won't be buying it.  Ever.  Again.
3. The time to right the ship is with the next bite, not the next day.  The one thing I did right yesterday was realize the tailspin & clamp down on it in the evening...before the night-time nosh that I was busily justifying with the toxic idea that "the day was lost."  When I needed to go in the kitchen before bed to stir in my yogurt starter, Dave kindly went with me so that I wouldn't sneak eat.  Doing damage is never a reason to do EVEN MORE damage. 

Good thing getting to a healthy weight was so much fun--now I get to do it again.