Step Up Sunday (Week 2)

I think that I will start my posts with whatever random weight/eating thoughts are in my head and then move on to the questions.

So this week saw a lot of me wanting to each just for the sake of eating. I grew up eating no earlier than 7pm, sometimes as late as 9pm. In Argentina dinner time is 9 or 10pm (or even later). My family followed this for the most part.

My husband is an early eater. If he could, he would eat at 5pm. Unfortunately for him I get off work at 5:30 and I typically don’t get to work on dinner right away (even more so now that I tend to take the dog for a walk before I make him dinner).

I think that this is the problem, though. I am eating dinner before 7pm which is causing me to be hungry later in the evening and which also makes me antsy to want to munch on something. I did go ahead and pick up some low-cal snacks (Fiber One Brownies at the moment – 90 calories) so that helped a couple of nights.

Sometimes during day I also just want to chew on something or eat something. It’s hard to deal with these desires and keep on track calorie wise – but I’m trying to concentrate on drinking a lot of water and tea so not only keep my mind occupied but to keep something coming to my lips.

1. How many pounds did you gain or lose?

I started the week at 161lbs. I ended at 161lbs . A total loss/gain of nothing! 

2.  How many inches did you gain or lose?

I sort of feel like my size 10 pants are feeling a bit looser than last week, which I can imagine to not just be my imagination, 2.8lbs was probably water weight, but enough to loosen them up.

3.  Your weekly exercise or step goal, and did you meet it?

I walked a total of 47,301 steps.

(3,938 fewer steps than last week).

4. What was your biggest challenge this week?

As I mentioned above, my biggest challenge was not eating for the sake of eating. I had to refocus myself in the evenings to avoid munching. Not having bad snacks in the house helped to diffuse it as well. My other struggle, mentally, was that I weighed myself at 161.2 every single day from Sunday to Friday and it drove me crazy. I started moving the scale around to see if it made a difference (it didn’t).

5. What is your favorite healthy snack or meal?

I’ve been eating Yoplait Low-Fat yogurt as a snack at work daily. I’ve also been sticking to pork chops. Pork chops are tasty and also very lean. I sauté them with Saute Express and some beef broth and it is delicious. I’ll pair it with ¼ cup of couscous and saute a mixture of mushrooms and onions. I do add a bit of sugar to caramelize the onions, but just about a teaspoon or two for a batch that lasts me 3 meals. The whole thing is a total of 300 or so calories. If I add veggies it only increases it by 20-40 calories at most.

6. Do you have any advice or tips for the rest of us?

Going with my health meal for the week, I suggest buy fresh pork chips (I like the ones with bone more) and saute it. Delicious!