Damages

As I wrote a few days ago, my godson's birthday party was this weekend, and I was expecting to treat myself to a piece of cake. Did I go through with it? Yes, I did. And did I feel guilty about it? No, I didn't/don't. I'm okay with cheating every once in a while. As long as I don't make a habit out of it, it shouldn't be too big of a deal. Anyway, apart from the sweets, I didn't eat particularly well at the party, but I didn't go overboard. The good news is that I haven't gained any weight. Honestly, I was kind of surprised to see a loss when I stepped on the scale this morning. At this point, I'm on target to reach my goal of 170 by my next official weigh-in. I'm pretty happy about that. 

There Will Be Cake

Tomorrow is my godson's second birthday party, and as was stated in the title, there will be cake there. I'm not going to go crazy, but I am not going to deny myself a small piece of cake. Many people who have successfully lost weight -- and who've kept it off, most importantly -- have cheated on their diets on occasion, and I intend to do the same. I think it's fine as long as I don't make a habit out of it. After all, I was thin for most of my life, and I never turned down a piece of cake or a cookie every now and then. I'm sure I'll be fine as long as I don't over-indulge. We'll see how it goes.

I don't want to post a long entry tonight because I'm pretty exhausted. My weekend's been okay so far. I went for a five mile walk on Thursday, so I decided to take yesterday off to give my legs a rest. Today, I resumed my exercise regime and walked three miles. Same old stuff. I really love walking and running, and I can't wait to start the C25K program in January. Come spring or early summer, I'd like to think that I'll be blogging about my first 5K race. :-)

Livestrong's MyPlate and Other Things

Over the past week or so, I've started using MyPlate over at Livestrong.com. It's pretty cool and useful, but the daily caloric requirement for my weight seems a bit high to me. It's weird because different sites give me different requirements, but the average amount to maintain my current weight seems to be about two thousand calories. I've been eating about 1,500 calories/day, but since I exercise daily, my net intake ends up being about 1,200 calories/day, which isn't too bad. Still, I'll have to monitor my weight to make sure MyPlate is accurate. I'd hate to think I'm eating to lose weight when all I'm doing is maintaining, so I really, really hope it's accurate. It's gotten pretty good reviews, and a lot of people say it's helped them to lose weight, so I'm hoping I'll be able to say the same. I have a feeling that the next month will be touch-and-go for me, though. I don't know how many people read my blog, but if anyone's reading this, have you ever used MyPlate? If so, how'd it work for you?

In other news, I went grocery shopping tonight. I'm happy to say that I made pretty decent choices. At this point in my journey, I've been eating a lot of processed food/meals (e.g., Lean Cuisines and the like), and I know they're not the healthiest things I could eat. Still, it's easier to keep track of calories that way. I definitely need to work on eating better food, though. That's one of my long-term goals. Other than that, I'm not eating too badly. 

These are quickly becoming one of my favorite snacks. The apples come with a generous amount of caramel, and the entire package is only 100 calories. Satisfying my sweet tooth and getting a serving of fruit = win!

That is all.

Thanksgiving

For many people trying to lose weight, Thanksgiving can be a challenging holiday. I was really worried that I'd overeat and sabotage my diet. I ate a lot (more than I probably should have), but I think I managed to avoid going completely overboard. I plan on moving around a bit more than I usually would over the next few days to (hopefully) make up for my indulgences. I hope stepping on the scale next week won't be too scary. 

Other than that, though, I had a nice Thanksgiving with my family, and if anyone else is reading this, I hope you had a nice holiday, too.