Last week was definitely a departure from the norm for me, because I was in a class for three days. I spend my days developing training (usually online training), and many years ago, I did stand-up instruction with great regularity. You’d think this would make me the ideal student, but I’m just like everybody else: hard to please and always wishing I was somewhere else. 😛
Still, the class was good, and we did get out early almost every day, so that was a bonus. Back when I used to do classroom instruction at my old job, it was always a “food fest.” I don’t know if it was to help improve our scores on the post-class evaluations, or just a way to entice everyone to come, but we always provided a nice selection of breakfast treats, a full lunch, and then always–always–cookies in the afternoon. It was a long-standing joke at our building that everyone loved when the marketing department had training sessions, because we always ended up over-purchasing and leftovers were quickly gobbled up. 😉
That was not the case at this class. We were on our own for lunch and any afternoon pick-me-ups, but they did provide a smattering of items for breakfast. One day it was muffins, then next two, it was donuts. Included among the offerings was a chocolate-chocolate chip muffin and chocolate caramel pretzel donuts. If you think that I had any thought of skipping those, you don’t know me very well. I only had half of each one, so that should count for something, right? 😉 I will say that it was probably a good thing that they didn’t provide other snacks, because as the class wore on, especially that second afternoon, I was desperate for a pick-me-up, and cookies would’ve been right up my alley at that point.
I ran 8 miles on Saturday, which was probably needed after all those morning snacks. I ran with two of my three girlfriends, because the third one was actually doing the Race for the Cure in downtown Detroit. We started just before sunrise.
(OK, full disclosure: that picture was from Friday. We ran in the neighborhoods on Saturday, and there really wasn’t any good place for me to take a picture. Just another reason why I love running in my rural neighborhood.)
I really love that the days are getting longer and the sunrises are earlier. I’ve actually stopped wearing my reflective vest in the mornings–a sure sign that summer is coming! 😉
Saturday was JJ’s last hockey game of the season. I can’t say I’m disappointed to see it end. It’s always tough when you get to the end of spring season, because you’ve been at hockey for about nine months straight, and you just need a break! They ended up tying against a pretty good team, so it wasn’t too bad. Before I know it, they’ll be posting tryouts, and we’ll be at it again. 😛
Sunday, as you probably know, was Mother’s Day, at least in the United States. For my mom, I made the boys do the heavy lifting this year: Jamie made my mother a chicken lasagna from a recipe she had sent me, while JJ went all out and made my mother an angel food cake with roasted strawberry sauce.
Doesn’t that look awesome? It tasted awesome, too! Yes, he did have a little help from me, but he did most of it himself. He separated eggs, whipped egg whites, and folded dry ingredients into a batter.
It was pretty impressive! I had never made an angel food cake before Sunday, so it was kind of a learning experience for both of us. The biggest thing I learned was that it requires cream of tartar, which was one thing that I did not have enough of and didn’t think to buy! Thank goodness for neighbors who make snickerdoodles on a regular basis. 😉
The angel food cake was actually pretty low in points, because of course, it only contains egg whites, not egg yolks. Still, it has enough flour and sugar to make up for it, but it was delicious and well worth two slices, especially with the roasted strawberry sauce, which was pretty amazing. Basically, you slice up strawberries, lay them out on a sheet of parchment paper on a baking sheet, drizzle a couple tablespoons of honey and some cinnamon over them, and then roast them in the oven at 400° for 10 or 12 minutes. Then you mix that up with a cup of your favorite strawberry jam (which of course, I have in abundance). When spread on top of that cake, it was decadent. Perhaps a little too decadent, as evidenced by my weigh-in the next morning.
This, despite running 8 miles on Saturday. I actually saved up points for Sunday because I knew we were going to have this cake. And although I had two pieces, I counted them, and I still had a few points left over on Sunday night, plus I had all my weeklies left over (I try to never use my weeklies).
So, it’s time for me to take stock. :/ Before I left for vacation, I weighed 121.6, the lowest I’ve weighed in about a year. On vacation, I gained about 3 1/2 pounds, which is certainly not surprising, since I chose not to follow any kind of eating plan while on “the vacation of a lifetime.” Once I got back, and got back into my normal habits, I assumed that the weight would come off. The first week, I gained about a pound. Ugh. The following week I stayed the same. Then, this week, three weeks after returning from vacation, I’ve gained another half a pound.
Clearly, whatever I’m doing is not working! I’m frustrated, but the only person I can really be frustrated with this myself. The reason for this is because I know that I have developed some bad habits in the last several months, and I believe that they’re finally catching up with me. And the number one bad habit I have is…chocolate.
For a long time, I was having five dark chocolate Hershey’s kisses every day at lunch, and then that would be it. I had this mental “block,” if you will, that I just had to have chocolate after eating my lunch. Instead of denying myself, I did it, but I counted the points. FYI, five Hershey’s kisses is six points. That’s a lot of f’ing points! And yet, I counted them, and adjusted my eating accordingly. I knew it was a waste of six points every day, but dammit, I had to have my chocolate!
Maybe two or three weeks before I went on vacation, I decided to cut it back to three Hershey’s kisses, which would only be three points. (Yes, two less pieces means three less points; it’s that crazy Weight Watchers formula that penalizes you for sugar.)
But here’s the thing: I would eat three Hershey’s kisses. And then, later, I would have another one. And then another one. And then at one point, I bought a bag of Special Dark Miniatures. And then I let myself have one or two of those at various points during the day. I mean, you know, one or two doesn’t hurt, right? So I kept buying–and eating–all the chocolate!
So on Monday, when I gained yet again, even though I’ve been back from vacation and back “on plan” for three weeks, I came to the realization that I need to do something different. And that something different for me is…
Giving up chocolate.
WTF!? 😮 If you had asked me even two weeks ago if I would give up chocolate, I would’ve laughed in your face. Chocolate is practically part of my existence. It’s, like, who I am! Ask anyone who knows me, and they know that I love chocolate more than any other food. For crying out loud, this was my Mother’s Day gift from my husband and kids:
I didn’t even know they made “party bags” of those. It’s more like a “Stephanie-sized” bag. 😛
And yet, I have given it up. No, not forever. Dear God, no. :-p But I decided that I should eliminate it from my life for one week, just to see what happens. If the scale doesn’t budge, then maybe that isn’t the problem. But I won’t know unless I try, right? And the reality is, my chocolate consumption was getting way out of hand.
I’ve been off chocolate for 3 days now, and surprisingly, I haven’t killed anyone yet. But I’ve had a couple close calls. It’s especially hard at work, after I finish my lunch, and I’m just sitting there thinking how much I need chocolate. I have been able to resist, but it’s hard. I’ve switched my “after lunch” snack to a banana every day. Still has sugar, I know, but it’s certainly better than chocolate, right?
No, no it’s not. But I’m trying. 😉
Thanks for reading!
PS: I have a new daily report from my vacation up, for those interested. You can find Day 6 on the Hawaii 2017 page.
