Which Came First...

Today was okay. I went into my temp job this morning only to find out that due to various developments, they didn’t really have any substantial work for me to do. Before I left at noon I was perusing cnn.com, and came across this article about why we eat too much and how to control it. I’ve (as I’m sure all of us who are trying to lose weight have) heard it before, but it had the added bonus of SCIENCE!

(It’s funny that Hadley (over here) had a science-related post today too – I love when motivational articles or posts have actual science and/or biological facts to back them up. They appeal to both the cheesy and the geeky sides of me. With their powers combined, they have me hook line and sinker.)

Anyway, in the article, the first two reasons for overeating are a lack of sleep and high stress levels. Who didn’t get enough sleep last night?? Ooh!! OOHH! ME! PICK ME! I didn’t! And what about stress? Every day my mom becomes more and more frantic about my family getting here (she doesn’t admit it but I know she wants to impress them too…where do you think I get it from?) and it’s rubbing off on me and my already precariously high levels of anxiety surrounding this trip and the state of my life. If stress levels were the Oscars, I’d be Katharine Hepburn.

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I had packed my gym stuff and brought it with me to work, but since I was off at noon I went home and ate lunch first. It really was a sincere move – I wanted to have some sustenance in me before I worked out. And I still ate the healthy lunch I had packed for myself. But then I just didn’t go to the gym. I was tired, and home, and to put it plainly: lazy.

And then, I wanted to just EAT. My dad was making himself a cheeseburger and I just…I didn’t want the cheeseburger necessarily, but I just wanted to eat a LOT of whatever I wanted. I just wanted to consume.

Thankfully I didn’t, and I controlled myself, but the feelings were there. I went to Target later (my other splurging problem area) and only got the thing I went for – NERD ALERT – Breathe Right Strips. But at one point I had sunglasses and a DVD in my hands, but I put them back in an equally sad and empowering moment. Heh. Though I may consider aviator glasses and the 4th season of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia essential life items, I really know better.

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So I don’t know if that article helped or harmed me. And it doesn't even confine itself to food either, but things, glorious things! Target is King of Things. Oh what? My point? It is...would I have reacted like I did with the desire to consume had I not read about natural responses to emotions I’m experiencing? Did it essentially provide me with How To Guide? Or because I read the article, was I able to understand that my actions were a result of being overtired and stressed, so I knew better than to give in? Chew on THAT, Socrates.

So no gym today. I’m not happy about it, and I don’t have a good excuse. I could have, I should have. But at least I kept my eating healthy and in check:

Breakfast:

*Arnold’s sandwich thins, toasted w/ a tbsp peanut butter
*Strawberries (maybe 10 of them?)

Lunch:

*Carrots and sugar snap peas with sabra individual hummus packet
*Arnold’s sandwich thin and between 1 and 2 tbsps peanut butter
*V8

Snack:

*Glass of milk
*About 2/3 of a cup of toasted garbanzo beans (chick peas!)

Dinner:

*Steamed broccoli, chicken, roasted red pepper sauce.

I took from the jar of roasted red peppers for the sauce this time. I didn’t feel like doing the whole roasting thing. I put about one and a half peppers into the food processor, along with two Laughing Cow Light cheese wedges, and a sprinkling of garlic powder and Italian seasoning. I really like it! The LCL cheese blended and incorporated nicely (for once in its life!) and makes the sauce taste creamier and more sinful than it really is. After that I just threw the broccoli, chicken (half a breast, in chunks, cooked in just pam in a skillet) and sauce into a deliciously delicious bowl.

And I have so much leftover sauce it’s redonkulous. Gonna have to get creative this week.