Snack Attacks - Happy Chew Year!!

I have taken a quick break from the Seven Deadly Sins posts because something more important has been occupying my time and derailing me over the holidays! I have been in Snack Mode Full Throttle! I have been on this new eating path for a while with all my heathy habits in check, new ways of thinking sussed out and reprogramming of my 'mindset' etc. but as soon as the Christmas baking and preparing of special goodies came along, I fell off my good behaviour band wagon! I did not eat the stuff I was making, I was pretty good that way, but my accountability factor screwed me over because I was not 'counting' the taste-testing licks, and all the snacking I was doing to prevent me from eating my decadent baked goods. Let me explain this better....

I think that I can outsmart myself, so I get healthy snacks like sliced apples, hummus, celery, rice crackers....Good Stuff, right? But while I am grazing on GOOD stuff to avoid eating calorie laden buttery goodies....I am consuming way through to many points, calories, and ....well FOOD! Most definitely more food than I would be eating if I had just sampled one of my biscotti's and enjoyed it. So I outsmarted my self and sabotaged my cunning efforts to cut calories. I did eat healthy choices but it kicked started a snacking frenzy and this continued all through the month of December and I am only starting to re-wire my habits now and we are almost done January!!! It's hard and it's tricky - my level of vulnerability during this Christmas cooking/baking/eating season was different from the past ones because I think I thought that I had "it" covered. AND I did not! But learning curves are what life is all about and learning is what I am doing, I am once again evolving with my body and I am here to impart my trials and tribulations - wahoo - oh and did I mention that these tribulations weighed in at roughly 5lbs!! Yes folks 5 glorious pounds...devastation on the scale front but I own it and I move forward. I was about to type that I own my mistakes but that would be WRONG...that is the way I would have looked at this - as mistakes but are they really? I am finished with beating myself up and accusing myself of being bad, Maybe, just maybe I am human and tried to be good but goofed up and now I need to re-align, go back to basics and make sure that snacks are weighed and measured too. They are not unlimited just because they are healthy choices. I have always had a volume issue, as my other blog posts have stated, so snack volume follows suit as well. I need lots of celery, apples, carrot, yogurt dip around me as I prep soups and stews or bake for special occasions. If I don't have nibbles I will snack on 'baddy bits' which is not an option, is it? So back to the 5lbs, let's talk about that...how do I get back to where I want to be without the spiral downfall?

It is a pivotal point to find yourself as I a former morbidly obese woman, and food addict, gaining 5lbs over a 2-3 week period and seeing the scale jump up like it did...is more of a Mental Derailment than it is a physical one and it is a dangerous point in time. As I mentioned before - BACK TO BASICS - it's not Sexy or maybe it appears over simplistic but it is what has worked for me time and time again. Track Everything, Measure Everything, and Prep for as many meals and situations as possible. Dieting Girl Guide Badges, Track, Measure & Be Prepared :)

I still have tins of homemade cookies (frozen away) and Christmas cake (lasts forever) but I am not attracted to these temptations. The problem was over snacking while making these goodies and now I am into over-snacking mode, this is the habit I am back in to. I am not controlling the 'see it, munch it' behaviour. It could be leftover cold salmon or a bowl of cut up oranges I will eat it and that's not good. The food is good and healthy but the reason I am eating it is NOT. I am eating for the sake of it, not because I am hungry. So sometimes I can blame boredom, sometimes visualization see/grab/swallow, sometimes it's because I ate something filling but tasteless for dinner and I am looking to satisfy a flavour craving! Regardless I am not in control and if I want to see those 5lbs melt away before Easter baking season....I need to STOP and take 5! Just walk away for a few minutes. I know for a FACT that a 5/10 minute distraction is all it takes to keep me from consuming a random 200-400 calorie snack attack. I know this, I've got this, now I just need to get distracted in a different room, so not making a cup of tea and staying near food! Maybe folding laundry, or walking up and down the stairs a couple of times. Go pick up the mail, wash the floors, if weather permits go out and smell the flowers...anything just step away and take a few deep breaths. This is one of my 2024 self commitments - micro breaks for sanity and body wellness!