A few steps back but progress is good!

I had a fantastic weekend with my family!  So I’m trying not to be toooo hard on myself for all the crap I ate this weekend.  I gave myself permission to eat several things ahead of time, and I turned down (some) stuff I didn’t need.  The stuff I say I went “overboard” on were things I never have access to, things that really are those “once or twice a year” things (i.e., us southerners make casseroles out the wazoo with cheese + butter + cream-of-something soup + a veggie, and I pretty much only have these at Thanksgiving and/or Christmas).  When there are like 10 different things you want a small amount of, the entire plate ends up being pretty huge!

I’m getting ahead of myself, as usual.

All us cousins were supposed to take either an appetizer-type snack or a dessert, and I think all of us choose sweet stuff to bring.  My contribution was the pretzel rods I made the other day, but I also made cake pops for placecards! 

For you design nerds out there, that font is Decemberice.  

So, my plate…wait, I have a tangent.  I HATE the southern tradition of calling a big mid-day meal “dinner.”  It’s LUNCH.  Look at the clock.  And god help you if you say the word “supper” around me.  You know those words that make your skin crawl?  “Supper,” “meal,” and “belly” make the top of my list.  Got any good irk-words?

Tangent over.  Here it is.

Stuffing + gravy, broccoli cheese casserole, pineapple casserole, asparagus casserole, corn casserole, sweet potato casserole, and cranberry dressing.  Oh and turkey + ham.  Even though I got small amounts of those things, it’s pretty ridiculous, isn’t it?  Yeeeah, it is.  Slim to no nutritional value.  And this isn’t even everything they had – I just picked the best stuff I never have.   They did have a few “whole-er” foods, but I made my decision ahead of time that I could splurge since casseroles like that are so infrequent  .  Though looking back, I would’ve been happy with 1/3 the meat.   Y’know though, I’m sitting here trying to defend my ridiculous plate, but it’s like half as much food as I’d have gotten in the past in that situation.  So even though it was a step back in the current diet micro-scheme of things, it’s a step forward in my lifelong macro-scheme.

We ate our big meal around 2pm, and I thought I’d be full for two days after that big plate.  However, I actually got hungry again (or was it “carb-hungry”?) and had a few spoonfuls of stuff around 8pm.  In the late afternoon, we opened presents and had dessert.  The only dessert I gave myself permission ahead of time to eat was a slice of mom’s pumpkin cheesecake – something I look forward to ALL YEAR.

That piece looks massive, but it was just a little over an inch wide at the back!  Old habits die hard, though, and I snatched one of these mini-cupcakes.

I told myself I wouldn’t eat anything storebought, but it was so cute and it ended up being really good.  It doesn’t excuse it, though…it still wasn’t worth it in the end.

Y’all know what’s the best birth control on earth?  Besides being single, that is.  Ha.  That’s not funny.

These little whippersnappers will run you ragged.  And I swear I wasn’t the one who put them in the trashcan.

I’m gonna wrap things up here, but I wanted to show a progress picture of sorts.  The first picture was taken 5 weeks ago, and the second was taken Saturday.  I know the angle/posture aren’t the same, and I’m 60% hidden in the second one, but you can see a bit of difference.  (About 15lbs’ worth!)

Can a sistah get some loose powder up in hea?