Monday, February 6, 2012

Back-Tracking or Getting Back on Track?

It's no secret to any of you who read regularly that nearly all of my breakfast posts look identical. They're not the same pic repeatedly; I just have a small a.m. repertoire.
This morning:
My late lunch will consist of a banana slathered with crunchy peanut butter and perhaps a few slices of avocado. I will not eat bananas that are not at least halfway still green. Mom always says they still have to be crunchy in order for me to consider them. She's not far off the mark...
I was ecstatic to discover Sunbelt Oatmeal Raisin granola bars at Kroger on Saturday. I didn't even need granola bars, but these puppies are such a rarity at any store that I had to snatch them up. Thus, my in-class snack will be Sunbelt glory.
Dinner tonight will be leftover spaghetti with Smart Sauce, seasoned turnip greens, and sliced cucumber and tomato accompanied by vinegar.
All of this sounds pretty balanced and nutritious, right? I've got whole grains, low-fat dairy, natural sugars, fresh fruits and veggies, dark greens, protein, calcium, vitamin C, potassium...

On Friday, I wrote about how one meal doesn't necessarily derail an entire week of healthy meal and fitness decisions. Well, in all honesty, I allowed last night's dinner to create a complete trainwreck out of my decisions. Between 4-5 jalapeno poppers, 2-3 vanilla almond cake cookies, 2 slices of authentic Italian pizza from Vinny's (trust me, it's authentic), Woodchuck Amber, and one of these babies plus a frozen yogurt sundae (complete with the requisite marashino cherry), I was feeling pretty guilty last night:
Just because it was Super Bowl Sunday didn't mean that I couldn't have offered to bring a homemade veggie tray, or at least a potluck dish involving fresh veggies. I do not mean to imply that my hosts' courtesy and delicious provisions weren't spot-on; I simply mean that I overindulged and didn't exercise any self-restraint.
That being said, this morning I popped out of bed at the usual time (but following 9 hours of sleep and an entire bottle of water), ready to resume 5K training. Week Two, Monday, called for 15 minutes on the treadmill, so I decided to bump up my speed a few notches to compensate for yesterday's indiscretions. I completed 1.48 miles, feeling bloated and disappointed in myself.

I want to make a few things clear: (1) I'm not on a journey to starve myself; I definitely want to lose weight, but I'm approaching it in a healthy and gradual manner. (2) I'm not trying to perpetually deny myself less-than-wholesome foods, but I am trying to limit my intake. (3) Weekends are not easy for me when it comes to self-restraint or portion control. I'm not an eating machine, and nobody's perfect, so with each day comes improvement. (4) The mission of my blog is not to berate myself or others for eating crap or letting healthy habits slide. It's for tracking my journey and my emergence into several different new exploits.

This week begins a new week in my life, and thus, a renewed opportunity for nutrition, fitness, and overall health. If you're just joining me, I'm happy you're here. If you've stuck around this long, thanks for hangin' in there! Happy Monday :)


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