Holiday Update

Apparently I have no self control over the holidays and have gained a couple of pounds back.  That is a lot on my small frame.  I can feel it in how my jeans fit and I am not happy.  I try to treat every day as a new day diet wise but also am not holding back from cookies in the office or dip at a party.  It is such a challenge!  I really wanted to drop a couple of pounds in time for my birthday but now that goal has turned into my jeans not feeling so tight.  Wish me luck because there is nothing more frustrating than working so hard to lose weight only to gain it all back!  I promised myself I would not let that happen.  So to those of you struggling with the same challenges-good luck.  For those of you who have maintained or lost in this holiday season-cheers to you!

Cookie does rhyme with my last name

I did not make it home for Thanksgiving nor will I be going home for Christmas since my mom will be in Brazil.  What did my mom do to make up for it?  Send me tons and tons of my favorite homemade Brazilian cookies.  She knows I love them so much that she made sure to write a note on one of the containers reminding me to share.  Bobby tried these cookies when we went to Missouri this summer and he loves them as much as I do.  I did the right thing and separated out a bunch of cookies to give to Bobby but that doesn't mean I have been that good!  Take yesterday for example, I saved EIGHT of my 18 Weight Watchers points just for cookies.  Sure, sure I didn't go over my points but still, they could have been spent more wisely.  Holidays.  What are ya gonna do?

Cheetos Shame

This is what I ate for lunch last Sunday.  I'm so ashamed and have to explain to try to make myself feel better.  I had a bigger than usual breakfast and then I met up with my friend Camron to go look at some art exhibits.  I was getting hungry but decided I'd wait.  Well then I went to Bobby's after the exhibits instead of going home and by that point it was late in the afternoon and closer to dinner time.  The Cheetos Puffs were the first thing I saw and I was starving so I ate them.  By the way, Cheetos Puffs are larger and denser these days.  I miss how they used to be.  Anyway, I shouldn't have waited so long to eat and I should have made a better choice.

Sausage vs. Turkey

Okay, I thought to be fair, this picture belonged up on the Food Regrets blog.  What's a girl to do at Wurstfest aka A Ten Day Salute to Sausage with a handful of Weight Watchers points left?  Hmm, fried pretty much anything, sausage, sausage, sausage, beer, or a turkey leg?  Yep, I chose the turkey leg and ate about a quarter or less of it.  Yes, I did have a few bites of rice pudding, funnel cake, one bite of strudel, and a sausage cheese ball, but I didn't buy any of those, just sampled from other people so that hardly counts!

Vacation and Holiday Food Regrets: Do they count?

I'm back!  I haven't posted on Food Regrets in a few weeks.  Bad for the sake of the blog but good for me!  Despite not having any specific food regrets to post I still wanted to give a general update.  Now I haven't been perfect by any means but I've noticed that I don't over do it as much now that I'm holding myself even more accountable. 

Over the past few weeks I've struggled in the evenings so there has been the unnecessary bowl of cereal, extra mini ice cream sandwich and so forth, but nothing extreme.  (Notice I said "mini" ice cream sandwich.  Yes, they make ice cream sandwiches in smaller sizes so if you need a dessert fix you don't have to feel so guilty.  Eating more than one defeats the purpose though.)  Weekends are the biggest challenge.  I do pretty well during the work week sticking to my points or going over a little, but the weekend is when I am more likely to go out to eat or have more of a who cares, just enjoy it attitude when it comes to food.  I think weekends are my biggest hurdle to losing the last five pounds.  Grrr, those last five pounds!

I went on vacation to an all-inclusive resort a few weeks ago.  I thought for sure there would be food regrets there but believe it or not I didn't have any except when I had two links of sausage rather than one for breakfast.  Okay, okay, it also helped that I didn't really like any of the food there and I'm not a big drinker.  Also, I did more walking than usual so I felt good.  I returned to work from vacation just in time for our Halloween party.  Now this is when I let go, said screw it, I ate fine over vacation, it's a holiday so I will eat that dip if I want to.  With Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up this leads me to ask, do holiday and vacation food regrets count?

A little more information

For anyone who may have just happened upon this blog I thought I'd repost what I wrote on my personal blog so you know more about where I'm coming from. 


I don't have many or really any regrets in life because I feel like all of my choices and experiences have led me to where I am now, but I do have many "food regrets." This happens when either I eat too much of something or when something sounds good one second but I later regret eating it. I feel like I have more food regrets than most.

I started this blog first because I thought it was kind of funny but then later realized it's a way for me to be honest with myself in documenting them and in turn hopefully curbing them because regret just makes you feel bad!

I try not to obsess about eating, counting calories, etc. but I feel better when I eat better. Not to mention since living in Texas I've had some weight struggles and lately I have been trying to take more control over them. I've made lots of progress and I try to be proud of that, but these "food regret" moments can be rough. I don't want this blog to make me get down on myself, but to help me make myself more aware of them and maybe if someone else sees them they'll even be able to relate. I will never cut out a food that I love; I'm just trying to learn moderation. Sometimes circumstances, stress or emotions kind of stand in the way and lead to these "regrets."

In case you're interested in where my need to try to address all this comes from... here's an overview of my weight struggles over the past eight years.

• Leave an active job in Missouri to work a desk job in Texas. Never worried about diet and exercise before, youth and the active job just kept me thin.
• Pounds start adding up the longer I get into my desk job and change nothing else about my diet or exercise.
• I finally get diagnosed with endometriosis. The doctor plays around with different drugs, I have two surgeries, and then start Lupron injections which put my body through temporary menopause (and made me balloon up even more). By this time I've put on probably 20 or 25 pounds. Considering my small stature, that is A LOT!!!
• Days after one of my surgeries I go to my 10 year high school reunion. TWO people mistake me for being pregnant, one being a former male classmate who puts his hand on my stomach and says, "Someone looks awfully pregnant!" Who knows how many more thought it but just didn't say anything.
• I visit Susan in Dallas. We go get our nails done. Girl doing my nails asks, "How long ago did you have the baby, or are you about to have it?"
• My former love for shopping for clothes stops. Now it's all about trying to find things that will hide my belly.
• I get off Lupron plus start exercising and making changes to diet. Pounds slowly start coming off.
• I find workout buddies, start taking group classes, and make more changes to diet. More pounds come off.
• I get dumped by a serious boyfriend. More pounds come off and I'm starting to recognize my old self again.
• A little more than seven years after moving to Texas and I decide I need to take even more control and I start WeightWatchers online after hearing about two friends' success stories.
• Since starting Weight Watchers I've lost about 10 more pounds with a goal of about 5 or so more to go. It's hard to stay motivated sometimes after hitting your first goal, hence food regrets.

Thinking back on all of this is kind of painful. I get mad at myself for letting it get so out of control, but have forgiven myself. The Food Regrets blog will hopefully be a good way for me to stay accountable to myself.

Weekend Regret

One of my favorite junk foods is pizza.  It's very hard for me to see hot pizza sitting there and not eat it which is why I usually eat too much.  It just tastes too good while it's still hot and fresh!  We all know that pizza isn't exactly part of the suggested Weight Watchers plan, but this Saturday night was a football watching night and pizza goes well with football watching.  I think my biggest downfall that evening (besides having pizza for dinner) was that I was way too hungry by the time we ate dinner, causing me to shove down two pieces quicker than I normally eat and then didn't give my body time to get full before moving on to the third.  Before I even finished the third I was beyond stuffed and regret over that third piece set in.  And this time I got angry with myself.  It's tough being frustrated with yourself.  I'm hoping that my regret from Saturday will be a lesson for me the next time I'm faced with pizza.  I will say though that the past month I have found a way to deal with pizza cravings.  I've actually made mini pizzas using english muffins, low-fat cheese, and pizza sauce.  Very child like I know, but so much better for me than a real pizza!

I Heart Cereal

Good cereal is good for you...but only if you have one bowl.  My current favorite cereal is Kashi Wild Blueberry Clusters.  That stuff is amazing.  As much as I love coffee and cereal, I sometimes get excited about breakfast the night before, no joke.  This sometimes leads to a bowl of cereal for "dessert."  Well last night I had a very small dinner and had just bought a new box of cereal.  I hadn't had it in about a week.  I decided to have a small bowl.  That bowl turned into a second small bowl which then shamefully turned into a third leaving me with a feeling of regret.  In the future I will not let myself get carried away and allow myself only ONE bowl!

Skip the Biscuit

Choosing to eat KFC is a commitment.  You have to be committed to your fingers smelling like KFC for the rest of the day and to your stomach being mad at you.  I eat KFC maybe two or three times a year.  This KFC trip happened after hearing about their grilled chicken and I wanted to try it.  I got the two piece grilled chicken plate with a drumstick and thigh, a biscuit, green beans, and my favorite KFC item, mashed potatoes and gravy.  The chicken was good and didn't leave me feeling as gross.  I ate up the mashed potatoes and gravy while eyeing that biscuit telling myself, "Don't do it.  Don't do it."  But I did it...with regret of course.

Now typically I'd look up the WeightWatcher point values before getting the meal, but not this time.  I was pleasantly surprised by the values for the chicken and even the mashed potatoes.  Now the biscuit on the other hand, not worth it!  I was already regretting eating that biscuit and having the taste of grease left in my mouth, but seeing that it's worth four points pained me even more.  I promised myself that if I make any more KFC trips this year that I'll skip the biscuit.

Party Pizza isn't a Party

Documenting my food regrets is going to be tougher than I thought.  Along with the regret comes shame, making it tougher to admit these food regrets.  This is a regret that I have probably about once a month:  Totino's Party Pizza.  It's so nasty that it's good.  This month's party pizza was eaten after doing the Jillian Michaels' Shred workout DVD and while watching "The Biggest Loser."  Seems appropriate.  Now here's a fun fact!  Do you know how many fat grams are in just HALF of a "party" pizza?  20 GRAMS!!!  For only HALF the pizza!  Guess how much of it I ate?  The ENTIRE thing!!!  Now talk about regretting eating something.  Ugh. 

Happy Halloween Food Regret

I was doing well today WeightWatchers points-wise until these arrived in my office: Halloween sugar cookies. The little tiny sugary sprinkles are one of my weaknesses. I figured a cookie or two wouldn't hurt but then those two cookies turned into four cookies. FOUR cookies y'all! I had a nostalgic moment after the first bite. They reminded me of my favorite Girl Scout cookies back in the day, "Scott-T's." Not sure on the accurate spelling but they were thin, crispy, and covered in little sugar sprinkles. Anyway, after the third cookie I knew I should stop but something came over me, like I must only eat an even number of cookies so you better go ahead and eat that fourth! 

Now coming down off my sugar high, my thick sugary saliva and full-ish stomach  just leave me  feeling disgusting and full of food regret. 

Welcome to Food Regrets

Regrets. We all have them...words never said, saying too much, unnecessary purchases, not going after that promotion, and the list goes on and on. I personally have many regrets...food regrets.

You know, like when something sounds so good one second because you're hungry or maybe you were just craving something sweet but then afterwards you regret ever eating it or eating as much as you did and realize it just wasn't worth it and now you have food regrets.

This blog is to document these food regrets.