Treating myself differently

I’ve had an somewhat out-of-the-ordinary week where I’ve been semi-stressed at work, and yesterday was particularly trying.  A few weeks ago, I could’ve seen myself getting off work and going to buy a DiGiorno pizza and a pint of Ben & Jerry’s and “unwinding,” but last night I decided to treat myself in a healthier way.  I haven’t had salmon in awhile and was craving it, so I stopped and got one piece:

I had bought this brown sugar & pecan mustard at a local gift shop to include in a Christmas present for someone, but I had forgotten about it and found it last week.  So I kept it.  I’m a bad person.

 

But hey, it was fantastic on the salmon! 

I’ve always disliked guacamole, but I had an AMAZING batch at a local restaurant a few weeks ago, so I’ve been stuck on it ever since.  I grabbed a container last night that is nowhere near as good as the local stuff, but it’s not bad.  I thought the little label under the lid was cute:

Do you “treat yourself” by cooking something nice after a crazy day or grab something quick from the store or a restaurant?  It’s so easy and tempting to grab something quick and comforting!

Organizational Bug and Pondering about Bingeing

This cute blue stone crock I just got from World Market makes everything taste better, not that my gumbo needed it, in my humble opinion. 

Sunday was spent taking down Christmas decorations and packing them all away.  I’ve been bitten by the organizational bug lately, for better or worse, and am committed to getting rid of clutter and finding an appropriate place for everything.  It felt good to take 4 giant boxes of stuff to Goodwill and finally get them out from under my nose – I’ve been working on those boxes for weeks!

My eating habits were stellar last week, which makes my actions this past weekend all the more troubling.  I pretty much binged on chocolate and ice cream Sunday evening – a rebound effect from eating sensibly during the week?  A cry for help due to self-pity and loneliness?  I have no idea, but I’ve journaled about it and hope to nip it in the bud next time I see myself headed in that direction.  I did have wine Saturday night at a friend’s house and ended up eating dessert there…wondering if eating sweets made me crave them again?

Have you cut out sweets only to find that you no longer crave them?  Have you ever successfully pinpointed the reason for wanting to binge and stopped the action in its tracks?

Weekend Ritual

I might be bummed sometimes about being single and lonely, but when I think about it, I’ve developed some weekend morning rituals and enjoy not having someone get in the way of them.  Either on Saturday or Sunday (sometimes both) I’ll wake up and make an omelette or frittata with tons of veggies.

Then I usually sprinkle it with cheese and smother it with Texas Pete and eat while watching Fashion Police.  I love my little ritual. 

 

After brunch has settled, Maddy and I usually hit the trails for a nice long hike/walk.  Today, however, we made a pitstop by PetSmart for a new leash.  She’s got a bad habit of pulling on her leash (yeah, it’s mostly my fault for not keeping up with obedience training), but this new shorter leash really helps, and it’s got padded handles and a loop very close to her harness/collar for when I need to keep her closer (passing people on a trail, keeping her from jumping into icky muddy water, etc.).

Incidentally, does anyone have a favorite tried and true dog training book/method?

Now to bathe and gather some stuff to take to Goodwill before coming home to watch a movie and pack away Christmas stuff. Do you have any weekend rituals you really look forward to?

Dinner and a Movie

I stayed up late last night watching the Orange Bowl, and no…I don’t want to talk about it.

Point is, I’m about to paaaassssss ouuuutttt but I wanted to share an amazing recipe I just tried.  I was prepared to have a few guests over for dinner but sadly plans had to change last-minute.  My mom, however, gladly made the trek to the other side of town for an awesome homecooked meal and a movie – Bridesmaids!

I made Anne Burrell’s Roasted Pork Loin with Apple Cider and Chunky Applesauce and it turned out PERFECTLY.  I forgot how much I liked cooking and trying out different recipes – definitely want to keep this up!

 

So a few days into gluten-free, my tummy is already less mad at me.  Looking forward to seeing how long it’ll take before a bunch of other troubling symptoms clear up.  If you’ve gone gluten-free, how long before you started seeing big differences in various symptoms?  And on that note, I’m about to fall asleep.

Well hello there, 2012.

How was everyone’s Chrismakwanzakkuh?  Mine was a little TOO good.  I’m so in love with my Christmas tree, I’ve promised it I won’t take it down until this weekend (hey, leaving your tree up til Epiphany is a thing, right?).

Between hosting a cookie swap of my own…

…and baking my annual cookies for the neighbors…

…and enjoying plenty of holiday dinners with many loved ones…

…and attending the wedding festivities of my cousin…

…I’m ready to say goodbye to the 10-15 lbs I’ve picked up since October.  An embarrassingly high amount, yes.  It’s definitely easy to let one pound creep by at a time until all of a sudden you’re in over your head.  I never want to get back to where I was three years ago.

 

I’m ready to be back where I was two months ago and to keep on going.

And to lighten the mood…here’s a picture of my parents’ cat, Murray, wearing antlers.

So what am I doing to fix my predicament besides bitching on teh interwebs? 

• I’m logging my food (and exercise, if I ever do any!) on loseit.com – does anyone else use it?  I got my mom a FitBit for Christmas, so she and I are using LoseIt since it syncs with the FitBit. 
• I’m making sure to drink enough water during the day – I was pretty slack about it over the holidays.
• I’ve gone gluten-free.  Now, I’m not doing it to lose weight – I’ve been diagnosed with gluten intolerance but haven’t done much about it.  Over Christmas I was pretty much eating whatever I felt like – cookies, pasta, breads – and I am paying dearly for it.  GI issues, inflammation and achiness, depression and mood swings, congestion – my major symptoms have gotten so much worse over the past month, and I’m ready to scrap it all if it means not feeling like a slug anymore.  And, admittedly, it has the added benefit of me cutting out a lot of carbs and really paying attention to labels for a change.
• I got an iPad for Christmas and have actually been reading some health and fitness blogs on it lately – something I haven’t done in awhile!  I tend to leave Tweetdeck open but have a hard time jumping into conversations like I used to.  Bottom line, I’m trying to surround myself with positive healthy influences. 
• I still work for the weight loss clinic, and I’m trying to spin my weight gain around in a positive way.  I need to get healthy for me, of course, but I also want to set a good example for the patients.  Trying out new recipes and keeping in touch on social media sites is not only helping me help the patients, it’s helping me help myself [cue sappy after school special music].  So, yeah…the Twittering and the blogging and the Facebooking…that’s as much as I’ll say, since I tend to say “I’m baaaack” then disappear.

So, as trite as it sounds, I’m developing a list of resolutions for 2012 that I’d like to make public for accountability’s sake.  They’re not ready yet – I want to really put some thought into this and make sure I’m setting the right goals. 

Did you set any resolutions this year?  Did you effectively “reign it in” over the holidays, or are you suffering from overeaters’ remorse like I am?