Olive Garden Strikes Again...

Ready for a good laugh? Less than 24 hours after I posted my last post I was planning my next restaurant meal! I have to throw in that is was for a celebration, and not just because we didn't want to clean up dirty dishes. Why, oh why, didn't I remember to put Celebrations on the exception list?

Anyway, we packed the kids in the car and drove off into the darkness. This is how it went:

Salad - 2 plates @ 350 calories each = 700 (Oh man this already looks bad...)
Breadsticks - 3 @ 150 calories each = 450 (I should just stop tallying this up now...)
Peach tea - 1 glass @ 170 each = 170 (Oops what happened to the water?)
Stuffed chicken Marsala w/ garlic parmesan mash - 1/2 dish = 400 (Thankfully no dessert.)

For a grand total of 1720 calories. 

SERIOUSLY??? IN ONE MEAL???

At this point, I'm coming to a couple of realizations:

1. I shouldn't eat ANYTHING until I look it up on My Fitness Pal app. (iPhone users, free from the app store and claims to have access to the largest food database out there. So far there hasn't been anything I couldn't find the calorie count for.) 
2. It's beginning to feel like the smack in the face I felt after tracking my spending down to the $1 when we started the Dave Ramsey plan... except this is more like slamming 100 mph into a brick wall. It really hurts... 

So, after failing miserably yesterday I've continued the trend thus far today. I'm just going to be happy it's the weekend and start over on Monday! It's Friday and the weather feels like summer in the middle of January. Opportunities have presented themselves, hence the celebratory dinner. God is gracious!

Oh, contemplating dinner... I'm deciding on whether to eat bread and water or order chinese takeout...

I may have to go for that hypnotherapy after all...

Eat This... Not That...

Ok, so you remember when I posted about not wanting to resist those delicious Girl Scout Cookies? (Click HERE to refresh your memory.) 

Yes, yes, I know... it comes down to will power. Why is it when I can be SO stubborn about other things, I can't resist FOOD! It's ridiculous how quickly my resolve melts away when I see, or smell, or even THINK about something scrumptious! Downright shameful even...

So I'm launching on a new adventure... well ok, not entirely NEW. Maybe rediscovered? Well, maybe not even that because I'm pretty sure this is on my list of 2012 New Years Resolutions.

Whatever you want to call it... I'm changing something, and that something is... FOOD. Not changing food itself, just what I eat. Maybe not even WHAT I eat... but how MUCH I eat. 

I want to train my eyes, and my nose, and my everything else... to have a smaller appetite, if that's possible. You know this food-addiction is ingrained in my DNA so this is going to be hard, but I have you to cheer me on, right? And if all else fails I'll go get hypnotherapy or something...

Anyway, if I see this... 

I'll eat this instead...

Yes, that picture up there is HOMEMADE lasagna and the one below that is avocado & tomato salad... and YES, that day I ate very large servings of BOTH! 

Case in point... why I want to try this new eating-slash-portion-control-slash-experiment.

Drumroll please... 

"Rules" of new experiment:

1. Choose the healthier option, if available.
2. Eat half of what my eyes and brain are telling me to eat.
3. Drink more water and less everything else: cokes, tea, juice, etc. This is a big one because I hate plain water, YUCK-O.
4. Last but not least: No eating in front of the TV so I can keep track of how much consumption is going on...

"Exceptions" to rules of new experiment:

1. I will eat what hubby makes for dinner... no matter what it is. This is where portion control comes in.
2. I will not totally cut out guilty indulgences... because if I do, I'll wind up obsessing about them all day, and all night, and all week, and all month... and... you get the point.

And if this works for a week or two, I'll think about adding more "rules". 

Come on guys... Let's do this...

New Year's Resolutions...

Who says New Year's Resolutions have to be boring? My fun resolution for this year is to take more pictures. With the kids growing up so fast it is so important to be able to take quality pictures that will last through the ages.

I just love, love, love my new Canon T3! I've never had a camera that takes such great pictures. Of course, I'm not a pro but I think this could develop into a serious new hobby!! (If you'd like to check out the specs and reviews on the Canon T3 check it out here on Amazon.)

P.S. Curious about the rest of my resolutions? Top three on the list:
   1) Eat healthier so I can hopefully lose a few pounds. 
   2) Stop eating out so much. (this pairs nicely with #1) 
 and last but certainly not least...
   3) Clean out my sadly overstuffed closet.