Let Him Eat Cake!!!

Here is my mid-week update for week 2.  I feel really good. In fact, I'm doing the Snoopy dance.  You know what I'm talking about... nose in air and feet moving, baby. Today has just been a good day, with nothing earth shattering happening. Just a very nice day where I got some work issues resolved and I got to spend time with my family this morning. The day started with me going to my doctor's office for a blood test and I was hungry since this was a fasting blood test. Following that I went to Cracker Barrel with my wife, daughter and her kids. It was a great deal of fun and I ate a very healthy egg white omelet with veggies and cheese, plus turkey sausage and whole wheat toast. Breakfast was great although the kids make me dizzy. I sat in the middle of them and they kept trying to get my attention causing me to look like some sort of demented bobble head. Hmmm....wonder what a bobble head of me would look like? Yet another reason to become famous! I let Tyler take off my band-aid, since Thea absolutely refused. There was this funny exchange:

Jeff: "Hey look! You can't tell where I got stuck. It's healed already since I have superpowers."

Tyler (age 8): "No it didn't You got stuck here!" (pointing to the puncture spot)

Jeff: "Well, I still have superpowers."

Tyler: "You DON'T"

Well, I believe I do have superpowers when it comes to losing weight. I've managed to stay within my calorie budget this week so far. I still haven't gone to the gym, which is not good, but I will get there. I've been trying to eat more veggies, with limited success. I've also listened to the Fat2Fit Radio and Nutrition Diva podcasts, so I think I'm learning.

Last night I had a huge potato with cheese and bacon for dinner.  This was from McAlister's Deli which is our favorite place to eat. I came home late yesterday and stopped by there to get our dinner.  Debbie called in our order and when the girl there confirmed what we had ordered, I found out Debbie had ordered carrot cake! I made the girl laugh when I told her to change it to a salad.  I was just kidding and took the cake home. After I ate my wonderful potato, I felt great. It was a bit excessive, but within my calories for the day. Debbie offered me part of her slice of cake and at first I thought NO WAY!  But I realized I still had 200+ calories left to eat. A quick check on the Web showed me that a slice of McAlisters carrot cake is 411 calories. Given that I always eat a snack at night, usually a piece of chocolate, I decided to take 1/3 of Debbie's cake. It was a fairly small piece but very tasty.

Since then, I've been considering the nature of food and why we demonize some foods. Cake, ice cream, and other sweets are not evil. And they can  be enjoyed in moderation, even by someone losing weight. Monica Reinagel, who is the Nutrition Diva, stated in her podcast that individuals should eat less than 50 grams of added sugar per day. To put that in perspective, a teaspoon is about 4 grams. While I try to keep my sugar intake limited to 2 teaspoons of sugar (8 grams) and a square of Ghirardelli dark chocolate (6 grams) per day, I don't mind indulging a bit every now and then.

If fact, I have another thought. People always say that you shouldn't link weight loss accomplishments with food rewards. I understand the reasoning behind this, but I just don't agree. Food is AWESOME and it can be a reward. So, I've decided that when I lose my three month goal of 12 lbs, I'm going to allow myself to have an entire slice of McAlister's chocolate cake. However, I will need to work this indulgence into my calorie budget. I feel good about this.  As a reminder, my goal is to lose this weight by May 1st.

So, I press on and I will post again Monday when I do my weigh-in!

Peace!!

Jeff