So, tracking really does work...

Ok, so am I surprised in the least little bit? No, I really shouldn't be. Tracking really does work.

I tracked everything I ate last week and as a result, I was rewarded by losing 1.8 lbs.

Saweet!!!

As a reward for myself, I bought a 3-month journal. I figured if I'm gonna make it to goal, I need all the help I can get. I just hope--HOPE--I can keep journaling in it. My track record has always been to do it for a few weeks but then stop. So we'll see how it goes. I'm hoping to keep doing it for at least 3 months. We'll see...

In Weight Watchers this week we talked about staying on track through the weekends. That has been the absolute #1 reason for my lack of weight loss throughout my entire journey--my splurging on the weekends.

I can gain an easy 2-4 lbs on the weekends from my so-called "splurging".

Check this out. I looked up the official definition of splurge and here's what it says:

splurge /splɜrdʒ/ Show Spelled [splurj] to indulge oneself in some
luxury or pleasure, esp. a costly one.

"To indulge oneself". Hmm. Yup, that's what it is. Only for me its a bit of overindulgence. I'll usually have a big breakfast after weigh in then we always go out to lunch with the in-laws and I'll usually get just whatever I want at lunch--cheese fries with ranch dressing, baked potato with butter, cheese, sour cream, and bacon, cheeseburger with the works, fried chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy, pulled pork with cole slaw... well, you get it, just whatever is on the menu that I happen to want.

This wouldn't be so bad if it were the only "splurge". But there's more...

Usually, throughout the week something catches my mind that I want to eat but I can't. Well, I could if I ate it in moderation, but usually when those cravings hit, they're huge ones. Like last weekend it was a whole bag of Ruffles and a whole tub of Heluva Good french onion dip.

You like the way I put that link in there to the Heluva Good website. I'm so bad. When I went to go get the link, lookie what I found... FAT FREE Heluva Good!! What?! I've never seen this in the store before. Now I'm gonna have to ask Publix to stock it!! I wonder how it tastes. If it tastes half as good as the regular stuff, it'll be amazing. Because their sour cream dips are the absolute best I've ever had in my life. And I've had plenty!

Okay, back to my blog...

So just splurging on a little bit of the chips and dip would have been fine, but I ate the whole bag and the whole tub. ON TOP of the huge meal I splurged on when we went out with the in-laws. And that was just Saturday.

I always vow not to "splurge" any more for the rest of the weekend. But that NEVER happens. We usually cook a big fattening meal on Sunday or we go out with friends or family and I get whatever I want again, knowing all the while I'm killing my weight loss efforts for the coming week.

So then Monday hits and I'm up, like I said, 2-4 lbs. Then I work and work all week to get it back off. If I've gained 3-4 lbs, chances are I will be able to get them off by the end of the week. But just barely. I might pull a small gain or break even. If I've only gained 1-2 lbs, I'm sure to get that off plus squeak out another half or full pound of loss by the end of the week.

So after reading that last paragraph, it has hit me like a TON of bricks. Do you know that if I would only splurge a little bit and NOT gain those extra pounds over the weekend, I could be at goal in less than a few months?? Heck, I could have been at goal 2 YEARS AGO!

I have got to quit doing this!!

Did you notice the last part of that definition up there--"a costly one". Boy is that right! It's cost me getting to my goal years ago.

Ok, Cara, this weekend you only get one splurge or several very small splurges. No big splurges...

I think what I'm going to do is splurge on this one meal (with the in-laws) and then I'll get back to my regular eating schedule for the rest of the day and for all day tomorrow.

In fact, I'm going to commit to cooking a healthy meal at home tomorrow so I won't be tempted to eating out or over doing it at home.

Last week bought Rocco DiSpirito's new book "Now Eat This!". If you guys haven't seen this, you should check it out. There are 150 "real food" recipes all for under 350 calories each. Real food! Home cooking. No fancy ingredients. No gourmet dishes.

There's a recipe in there for Chicken Fried Steak With Sausage Gravy that I've been eying. Here's a picture I took of the page in the book.

I'll make that and the macaroni and cheese, too (pictured below). The steak is only 337 calories and the mac n cheese is 227. I'll let you know how they taste. So far, they look uber easy to make and I've got most of the ingredients already in the house. No special spices or weird creams. In fact, the only thing I'll need to buy is the steak, the cheese, and the pasta. Not bad, huh?

Well, we'll see how the weekend goes. Wish me luck. You guys wanna try it with me? No major splurges. Just little ones or just one big splurge. What do you think?