Dark Chocolate Blues…
The good news?
Hmmm. I can’t think of any right now.
The bad news?
Meal plans?? What meal plans??
Sleep? What sleep?
Exercise? What exercise?
*sigh*
I’m exhausted and…
my grandfather died last night.
(Truth is, we weren’t very close, and I haven’t shed any tears, but it makes me think about my father and my mother and the relationships with them that I’ll never have).
Argh!
Here’s what I know:
Meal wise, I’m doing great. I’ve eaten precisely what I said I was going to for each meal. The problem is, I’ve also eaten tons of other things in *between* those meals. Usually snacking isn’t a problem for me, but right now it just seems like all bets are off. I can’t keep my fingers out of the dark chocolate, or my fat ass away from Starbucks after work.
This has got to stop.
Tomorrow we’re having a catered lunch at work in celebration of an all day author visit/book signing at our library. Last I heard the menu consisted of, among other things, fried chicken, hash brown casserole and chocolate turtle cheesecake.
God help me.
You don’t need to have been close to your grandfather to have had an emotional response to his death. Anything that changes the dynamics in your family is an emotional upheaval. So recognize that aspect and see if you can express yourself, instead of trying to kill the emotions with food. Cry! Yell! Punch a few pillows! Throw a tantrum! Let it out! I’ve just been for a colonic and the therapist said that whenever she has a good cry, she loses a chunk of weight!
And then treat yourself to a good workout! (I never thought I’d ever use the words “treat” and “workout” in the same sentence, but there you go!)
Good luck, sweetie. You are precious, no matter what your family history. You deserve to treat yourself well.
Will this Starbucks nutritional information help? It’s the lower-cal (vegetarian) options.
It’s taken from the UK menu - I suspect that the US recipes are different.
Print and keep in bag for when you’re out.
Oh my goodness, at the menu! Well, tomorrow is another day! :-) I’ve gotta get myself back on track. I haven’t lost an ounce this week & a half, so I’ve gotta crack down on myself. (The biggest problem was at my mom’s the other day–she had a bunch of Valentine candy, and we made egg rolls and crab rangoons. Healthy, right?….for fried food. I ate waaaaaay too much.)
Feeling your pain…..
Kathy
I agree with hanlie: express that stress! I learned from an article in Oprah mag (god knows, the ultimate expert source on EVERYTHING), that tears are chock-full of stress hormones, so that when you cry you are very literally releasing physical stress through your tears. Since learning this, I go ahead and indulge myself in a “good cry” whenever I need it. I feel relaxed and released afterwards and I know it’s because I just shed some stress.
Regarding that menu at work: HOLY COW ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? Chocolate Turtle Cheesecake –Oh.My.God. haha! Here’s my idea: for the next few days, do some extra minutes of aerobics each day to work off the extra calories you ate at that lunch. Because, really, you can’t just sit there and eat nothing — well, I know I wouldn’t want to.
As for the dark chocolate, I’m totally with you here. I love the stuff. The really dark stuff. The 85% stuff. Dark chocolate works on me like a Xanax. Within half an hour of eating a few squares of this stuff, I am CALMED DOWN, my friend, and sporting one of those dreamy smiles. :) It’s no wonder to me that you’ve been hitting the dark chocolate during this stressful week. :)
Be kind to yourself, JTF, you deserve it. And keep on keeping’ on. These are really the only things you can do: just keep going, and be kind to yourself about it all. :)
*smile*
Thank you, everyone. This week is (slowly) coming to an end — and while I certainly haven’t thrown in the towel — I *know* that getting back to progress I was making BEFORE running into a wall of stress head on, will be so much easier once it is.
You guys, rock. Thank you so much for all your support and helpful tips. :)
j
J, thanks for the link to the food confessional - other people use it besides me and so could you rename the link to The Food Confessional (rather than Paola’s)? Thanks. (I couldn’t figure out how to contact you except through a comment!)
Paola: Done. I should probably post an email link, but it’s justoofat -at- gmail -dot- com. Thanks.
j
hello I saw you.You so cute don’t worry.I cheer you