Temptation Tuesday

Morning. Today's challenge will be resisting temptations, especially after yesterday having succombed to consuming two pieces of candy.

Challenge Tally:

• My coworker brought in some leftover cookies from her daughter's wedding reception this weekend. They smell SO GOOD!!! It is all I can do to turn my head and keep my fingers from wandering in that direction!!!! I'm happy to report that I am meeting this challenge head-on and it is HARD. Thank God for helping me with discipline in this area.
• When I got home from work I so wanted to chow down on some sort of carbs - like bread or cereal or whatever. I settled on a spoonful of peanut butter.

Breakfast: 1/2 cup of vanilla low-fat (99% fat free) yogurt with walnuts.

Coffee: 1 1/2 cups with non-dairy cream (I know I know - not holding up my end of the dairy-princess bargain).

Water: Working on a bottle. Will finish it on the way to work. Done. 1 bottle at work. 1 large glass with lunch. 1 large glass after lunch. 2 bottles this evening.

Pills: Baby Aspirin and Vitamin.

Snack: Spoonful of peanut butter. Popsicle.

Lunch: BLT and a side salad with ranch to dip. 2 potato chips and 3 potato chip crumbs.

Dinner: chicken, veggie, rice casserole.

Exercise: We played tennis tonight!!!! I'm so delighted to have such fabulous weather!!!! AND we walked up the hill to check out the new equipment in the Community Center. Wow, they have treadmills, bikes, elipticals, a stepper, and a lot of weight lifting equipment. The "couples" membership is only -- get this -- $100 per year (12 months). That's amazing!!! And they are open 6AM - 11PM every weekday. (other hrs on the weekend) Additionally there is an indoor track, open gym, a lounge with a pool table and more. We are thinking if we used it together at least once per month that it would certainly pay for itself. Hmmm... $100 Hmmm... We did not have our wallets with us so we haven't done it yet, but it's definitely being considered. Well, should we or shouldn't we????? There was a time when I paid almost $40/mth just for my own membership. I cancelled it when I got married because we couldn't afford the fees for both of us while he was a student. I must say that this is a deal that I hate to pass up!

How I'm Feeling:

MORNING: Still a little tired. A cup of coffee should take care of that. I didn't want to get out of bed this morning. I wanted to rest more. Why is that? Regardless, I need to get this day on the road.

AFTERNOON: Panic! Forgot that I had a doctor appointment this afternoon!!!

EVENING: Hmm... a little tired after some good exercise. A little tired after a long day. A lot on my mind - it races. Hmm... need to relax already!

It's Friday... Want to dance?

Morning.

Breakfast: Finished the raisin bran and the 1% milk. I guess I need to do some shopping.

Coffee: None yet. 2 cups at work with cream.

Vitamins: Does Airborne count? Refilled my vitamins. Took a couple doses of AlkaSeltzer Cold medicine.

Water: So far 1/3 of a bottle with my Airborne x3 plus a bottle at work and another in the evening. Another large glass with lunch.

Lunch: half a turkey with swiss on a bun with mayo and a side of fruit salad.

Snack: 4 bites of pecan pie.

Dinner: Buffalo Chicken Salad at Monte Cellos with bleu cheese dressing. I only ate about half of it.

Exercise: Lots of steps at work

How I'm feeling: Well, I'm officially sick again. Clogged up sinus, mild headache, little bit achey, and stuffy and sniffley at the same time. I'm trying desperately to get ahead of it. No wonder I was feeling so terribly run down earlier this week. I shall stop and pick up more medicine, and some disinfectant wipes, and some tissues - with lotion in them! I definitely don't want to call off work today, but maybe I will come home early. Evening... sick sick sick. Exhausted. Stuffed up. Miserable. UGH.

Temptations: Does it count that I only took 4 bites of the pecan pie instead of an entire slice? I vetoed the candy jar... so that's good.

Thursday Already?

Breakfast: Raisin Bran w/ 1% milk

That's it so far.... I'm cold and I didn't want to get out of bed, but I'm pretty well rested. That's a plus.

Snack: Raisin bran - no milk.

Lunch: 1/2 club sandwich w/ mayo, salad with bleu cheese dressing, and fries - I didn't realize this lunch came with fries... otherwise I might have ordered differently. But once I had them I just couldn't send them back. Fries are a weakness for me.

Coffee: 1 1/2 cups in the afternoon instead of in the morning

Dinner: Thinkin about it. I haven't fully decided yet, but I think it's going to be more vegetable soup.

Temptations: Well... I looked at the pecan pie this morning. I got some goop on my fingers when I moved it from one spot to another, but I didn't taste any of it! (Pat'n myself on the back) At lunch I was eyeing up the nachos, and the steak & fries, and thought I was doing well by selecting a half a sandwhich with salad instead of soup. Maybe it wasn't the greatest choice. I could have done better. Throughout the day I am surprised that I have not had any cravings for sweets. I think that my friend Kim has a point when it comes to sugar. Not that I doubted you. I just never realized that before. Thanks for the pointer! I might note that yesterday I had Life cereal for breakfast. It's not covered in sugar, but it is definitely sweet. I craved all day long. This morning I made an alternate selecting, and how about that... I didn't crave sweets at all - except when that darn pecan pie was found right under my nose. Had I not seen it - I would not have even considered it. So - there you have it... Kim is a genius!

How I'm feeling: A little run-down. My throat was a tad bit sore this morning. I sneezed a million times today. My sinuses are beginning to drain. P L E A S E tell me that I am not going to be sick AGAIN!!!! Maybe that's what I get for slackin off on the vitamins. I think I'll start packing in the Zinc and Vitamin C and get on the Airborne already. I hope I have some! And... I suppose I should re-stock the vitamins too.

Mid Week Pick Up

I made a huge pot of beef vegetable soup today... ahhh... YUMM-O

Breakfast was a bowl of Life cereal with 1% milk

Lunch - soup

Dinner - soup

Snacks - 10 potato chips -- tried to blast the temptation, but decided to control it instead. 10 mini carrots.

Water - not enough but working on it. 1 cup of herbal tea. 1 bottle of water.

Exercise: Yesterday I shoveled the driveway. Today Keith and I pushed out the neighbors car that was stuck behind our house. Make that now helping out two stuck neighbors. The next door lady just got stuck and was blocking the entrance to our parking spots.

Temptation Challenge: I craved ice cream all day long. I looked at it, but I looked past it. See snacks for more.

New Week = New Challenge

I've been thinking... I need to exercise my awareness and discipline when it comes to temptations. Hubby is skinny skinny skinny and eats generous portions of everything including snacks both healthy and not. He loves cookies and brownies and ice cream, and cheese sticks, and chips. Not all together mind you. I have tried to outlaw unhealthy snacks, but when I do, he resorts to bringing home McDonalds and that is probably worse. There has to be some happy medium!

On one hand I think he should give these up in support of me, or maybe hide them... on the other hand, I need to stand up for myself. He doesn't necessarily eat all this in front of me. He would be very mindful of such behavior because he does support my efforts. I must train myself to look past those items. How does one convince oneself that carrot sticks are more tasty than potato chips? I must keep the healthy perspective!

The other day I wanted to dip into the candy jar at work. I amused myself by "dipping into the candy jar" touching a candy bar or two, but not lifting them out of the jar. I proudly stated "There, I dipped into the candy jar, but I just didn't take anything out of it." (Pat myself on the back)

So this weeks challenge is to recognize such temptations and to meet them head-on and either refuse or make a better selection. Got any pointers?