Day one.

So the thing about creating new habits is that you first have to break old ones. This is particularly true when it comes to things as (ideally) effortless as eating. How many times today have I gone for a bite/lick/taste/etc. of whatever I was getting ready for the kids, only to pause 3/4 of the way to my mouth and go, "Oh. Dang," and then put it back down. It's just funny. I guess I'm kind of an "all-or-nothing" kind of girl and something that isn't on my pre-planned menu of everything I'm going to eat that day can derail me completely. (*Please see the previous post regarding maintenance.) I plan my menus ahead, rather than keeping a food diary where you simply write down everything that you eat, so that I don't have to try to make a good decision when I'm hungry. If I have to do that, 99% of the time, I'll reach for whatever is quickest or easiest, which is never EVER what is healthiest. Besides, how often does bell pepper sticks sound better than a handful of chocolate chips? Never. That's how often.

So, I'm all about the preemptive strike. Plan complete menus at a time when I'm not hungry so that I just have to follow the course that's lined out for me, pre-cut veggies/fruit the night before so that all I have to do is dump a ziplock baggie into a bowl or grab my snack. If I can't make certain foods sound more appealing, the least I can do is simplify their delivery. Other helpful ideas have been things like drinking a big glass of ice water before/after each meal, brushing my teeth just before or chewing gum while I make dinner for the boys so that I don't feel the need to sample everything.

(*Sidenote: Major coup at our house tonight - both boys ate grilled chicken breasts for dinner tonight! You have no idea what a big deal this is. "Tiger Chicken" we called it - because anything associated with tigers = awesome as far as my boys are concerned. What really made it work was that I brined it. All you do is put 1/2 c. salt and 1/2 c. sugar in a large ziplock bag with 32 oz of water. Put four boneless/skinless chicken breasts in the bag, squeeze as much air out as you can, and refrigerate for 15-30 minutes, depending on how big the pieces are. The grill needs to preheat on high for 15 minutes, so this is a good time to go get that fired up. When the chicken is done, pull them out and dry them off. Rub/brush on veggie oil (I used grapeseed) and season with salt and pepper (I used Cavender's seasoning.) If you have a thermometer that you can use with your grill, cook meat on low to 140, turning once somewhere in there. Then, crank it back up to high and let the chicken come to 160 and nicely browned. Seriously - best grilled chicken ever. And really, the amount of salt that it adds is really marginal - less than 1/8 tsp per serving. My kids LOVED it. :) :) :)

I'm happy with today, which is nice. It's a little like summer just ended and now I'm back to school. I know what to expect and I'm pretty comfortable in the whole diet routine even though it's not my first choice of character-building activities. Dallin's been super sick these last couple of days and so we weren't able to go to the YMCA to work out, but I did dust off an old Tae Bo dvd and have Logan do it along with me. It was pretty entertaining until they decided that it was way too long and then spent the next 45 minutes on the couch moaning and complaining. But - I finished it. I then did a pilates dvd, just for the sake of throughly making the point that it is in fact, my tv too.

I'm hoping that I'll be able to get to the gym tomorrow and really get a good workout in. I think for me, that's really the key to staying on track in the kitchen. In an average spin class, I can burn 500 calories. That Chik-Fil-A milkshake that sounds so good after my workout - yeah, 770 calories. No way, man. I didn't just come out of there feeling like I got beat in the head with a golfclub to not even break even. Especially with this guy yelling at me.