I ate a wonderful homemade chocolate cookie that a classmate brought tonight. I faithfully recorded it and still have points left over. Just thought about what the day would have looked like if I would have done my usual travel diet: biscuit and hash browns for breakfast and something with french fries for lunch. Scary…so the cookie was really the right way to go after having a good food day…yogurt/fruit for breakfast before leaving the house, some more of the fish stew with lots of vegies for lunch and then a salad from the Mews with fat free dressing for dinner.

Here’s the McDonald’s deal:
biscuit and two hash browns is 12 points!
And then it’s close to 21 for a small cheeseburger and a large fries! That’s almost all the points you get! EEK! It’s no wonder I’m fat. Actually, the wonder is that I am not fatter. I couldn’t have started this diet any later…this is more than a diet but a life change. I don’t mean to sound too radical, but I really do feel better after just a week. And probably three weeks of doing yoga almost daily for 30 minutes. I did not do it today and I probably should…maybe just some easy stresses and relaxation. I am looking forward to getting back to walking now that the weather is nicer, and I’m wondering if I have to figure out how to navigate the gym in order to keep up the exercise over the winter. That’s got to be a part of this. And, the walking is actually the easiest part…I like it, and I am going to find some good podcasts to listen to, maybe subscribe to the New York Times through Audible.

So, I am taking a minute to pat my back. I’m not hungry right now but still have cottage cheese and a pear to go on the day. I did spend one extra point because I went back and adjusted the chicken and cheese on my salad. I had said one ounce but I changed it to two. And I made it a whole chicken breast although I don’t think that was true. I wonder about the cheese? I just checked: one ounce is your thumb which would be close to 2-1/2 chunks in the salad. So, did I have five chunks? Close to it…I generally overestimate how much I ate since portion control is an issue for me.

It’s almost 8:00 so I may just skip the cottage cheese and pear and have a cup of Tension Tamer tea and relax with Texas by James Michener. Or settle in and watch Barton Fink and add websites to my wikispaces. I like the latter idea…head out to the living room by the fire. I hate to be optimistic since I have failed so many times in the past and lately haven’t even made it past the morning of the second day, but for some reason, this time feels different. I feel different? Is it just a general confidence boost? I am getting lots of recognition…people seems happy with me right now…so I’ve got the steady balance I need to be able to focus my time and energy on this problem. I think that’s the realization, too, that it does take time and energy to change behaviors. After years and years of poor choices, I suppose I am lucky that I am not in worse health. I just find myself thinking to sit up straighter. And my leg and back threatened to hurt today but did not and I didn’t have to take ibuprofen, something I had almost been living on, just sort of part of my daily routine to deal with aches and pains.