To track points or calories....that is the question!

In the last several days as I’ve been trekking down the path of tracking points and calories I’ve been pondering the idea of how the two become one. I’m at a loss. As I posted a few days ago, when I’m tracking points I always end up having more points to use up at the end of the night than I have calories left to consume. I know it’s because of fruits and vegetables. I also know none of us got to where we are today by overeating said fruits and vegetables. However, the more I think about it and the fact that my points seem to be an additional 300+ calories a day more than the 1448 my “Lose It!” app suggests not to mention those 49 extra points I get a week with WW, I don’t see how that science works out. I’m still adjusting to the new plan. In fact, I’ve found that I really enjoy it quite a bit more than the old plan because it promotes better eating overall for me. On the old plan there was no way I was “wasting” points on fruit when I had so few points to consume anyway. I also felt sometimes like while my points were restricted I didn’t make the healthiest choices when I was selecting how to distribute my points. Frozen “smart ones” and 100 calorie snacks filled my journal each day. My scale saw big results, my clothes saw even bigger results, but overall my body wasn’t feeling a lot better. This time around, I think I’ve found within myself the ability to make better choices. I mean our body is a temple right? We are supposed to treat it as such, right? Well I can promise you, I wasn’t. Not even close. But this go round I’m going to fall back to my mantra: We are beautiful and our body deserves it! What exactly does this mean? It means that I’m making better choices. I’m being more conscious of what I put in my body. I’m reading more food labels. I’m buying more “whole” foods and way fewer processed goods. I have to do it for myself; no one is going to do it for me. All this to say that from here on out throughout the rest of this journey I’m going to be focused more on the calories more so than the points. I’m going to continue tracking both and the foods I eat and post will contain both counts so that my WW girls can still see those, but I’m going to be adhering to the phone app more so than the target PointsPlus values.

On a personal victory note (and please please please feel free to share your own victories-small or large-I want to celebrate with you) my mom and I left town yesterday to venture to NC for the funeral of my great aunt. Instantly my thoughts went to fast food restaurants, chain places, loss of control. Those were the old days. They are no more. Mom and I stopped in at her local Trader Joe’s before hitting the road and stocked up on fresh berries, Greek yogurt, carrots, and several other delectable goodies that we could take with us for the 7 hour journey that would allow us to make it to our destination without compromising our goals. That’s right we didn’t stop one time to fuel up on burgers, fries, chicken nuggets, or any other “road trip” foods. American Food Industry 0, Candace Fox 1! It’s the little things like that that are making the difference for me this go round!

And so as day three, and now four, has come and gone I am finding this blog more and more reassuring. Add to that quite the motivator. Prime example: Friday night was girl’s night (as I previously reported) and we did in fact bake red velvet cakes; however, my consumption of the cake was limited to the 3 tiniest bites of “sampling” we did and a finger full of the oh-so-delicious cream cheese frosting. I even frosted and took home 2 (we made mini versions) cakes. However, through what can only be described as an amazing display of willpower and through the encouraging and uplifting words I’ve received from all you guys in the last several days, as I left my house yesterday, I left both cakes comfortably nestled in their boxes in my fridge for my oh-so-sweet hubby to consume while I’m away. Now ladies, if you know me you KNOW that cake-most importantly the frosting-is one of my favorite foods on the whole planet. Where sugar meets more sugar there my heart lies. While it definitely wasn’t a “scale” victory it was definitely a VICTORY. For me to not only walk away from cake but to actually throw away cake and frosting because we had too much and were way to tempted took an outlandish amount of determination and to be quite frank, a miracle. But I did it. I walked away guilt free and overjoyed that I was able to “beat” the cake. It didn’t own me, my thoughts, my desires; I was in control. In fact, instead of indulging ourselves with the cakes my friend and I opted for a much healthier, delightfully yummy treat of blackberries, raspberries, blueberries and Greek yogurt. It was like discovering the 8^th wonder of the world. My heart leapt, my guilt was nowhere to be found, and I was 100% satisfied-both with the treat and myself. American Food Industry 0, Candace Fox 2!

Now I must take the time to thank all of you out there reading this, commenting on this, and for all of your words of encouragement! Every time I think about what to eat or when I put a bite of food in my mouth I think of this blog and the people reading it. You have helped me more than you can know in just this short period of time. Each choice I make for myself I feel like I’m also making for you. I can’t wait to see what the next few days, weeks, months, even the next year has to hold. Stay tuned as I continue to “win” over the American Food Industry and my guilt with my body and my food!

2 days worth of food break down (Friday & Saturday)

For breakfast I had a protein and fruit smoothie. Friday morning I stood the hallway staring into the abyss that is my pantry attempting to find something for breakfast and I started reading food labels. Artificial flavoring, dextrose, other ingredients that I couldn’t pronounce if I try, and high fructose corn syrup were staring back out at me. That’s when it hit me: when is the last time that I’ve consumed something out of a box/package and actually eaten the true flavor they tell me is in there? I can tell you it hasn’t been any time recently. With all the science and technology out there today, it’s a wonder we ever get anything “real.” This led to my breakfast choice. I didn’t want to put all that in my body. It’s a temple remember? My shake had a scoop of chocolate whey (3 points and 130 calories), 1 cup of 2% milk (3 points and 130 calories) and then I measured out 71 calories worth of a raspberry and strawberry mixture bringing the shake total to 6 points and 331 calories.

For lunch I relied on leftovers. I had 1 cup of rice (5 points and 242 calories), 2 cups of bean sprouts (0 points and 62 calories), and 1/3 cup of onion-chopped and sautéed with the bean sprouts (0 points and 21 calories). I mixed it all together and threw in some hot sauce to spice it up. Lunch equaled 5 points and 325 calories.

As a snack a few hours later I had 2 of the WW strawberry smoothie ice cream bars for 3 points and 120 calories.

Later that evening my friend took me to a Mexican grocery store and meat market that has a little restaurant in the back. It was like sitting in someone’s kitchen in the back of that grocery store. The store was very quaint, way off the beaten path, but so incredibly delicious. The menu was in Spanish, the waitress spoke little English, but thanks to the help of my friend I was able to order a Barbacoa Torta. Now I’ll be the first to admit I had reservations about this place and this sandwich but when I bit into that sandwich it was like all that doubt and reservation just melted away. Aren’t those hole-in-the-wall places the best? The sandwich was layered as such: a small layer of refried beans topped with barbacoa (a Spanish BBQ pork type dish) which was then topped with lettuce, jalapenos, avocado, mayo, and tomato if you so desire, and all in cased in this warm, freshly baked bread that was much like French bread but way better. Generally I would have “guessed” at how many points something like that was, but with my new found inspiration through this blog I just couldn’t in good conscious do that. When we got home I googled to my heart’s content and found the following nutritional information: 16 points (I calculated each ingredient individually so if you want that break down, just ask) and 602.5 calories.

This is the point in the evening where the baking began and where those amazing feats of strength and willpower were showcased as we resisted the cake and went for berries and yogurt instead. That treat-and I’m telling you TRY IT-was a whopping 1 point and 80.5 calories.

My total for the day was 1426.5 calories and 31 points. I did my sculpt workout when I finally made it home but didn’t calculate the calories burned and didn’t add them to my daily intake.

Saturday’s breakdown:

For breakfast I returned to my yogurt and berries concoction and had 1/8 c of Trader Joe’s plain Greek yogurt for 1 point and 32.5 calories and 1.5 cups of berries for 93 calories.

For “lunch” I had Trader Joe’s bagel chips (2 servings) for 260 calories and 6 points along with their Spinach and Sour Cream dip (1/2 the container) for 250 calories and 7 points. I also paired it with a few baby carrots-delicious!

For snack I had another serving of the bagel chips for 3 points and 130 calories.

For dinner we went to a local Japanese Steak House and Hibachi grill where I opted for the vegetarian dish. I had stir-fried veggies, fried rice, and a sushi roll for 613 calories and 13 points. I also topped it with the traditional yum-yum sauce for another 318 calories and 5 points.

I had a total of 1696.5 calories and 34 points.

Post-dinner my mom, mom’s sister, and I sat around chatting (food, life, this blog, etc…) like we always do. It warms my heart! Following our all night gossip, I mean gab, session I did my Sweat workout. I definitely didn’t want to but I knew I’d only be cheating myself if I didn’t do it. So in the sunroom of my aunt’s home while everyone else was sleeping I knocked it out. The workout calories counter balance my caloric intake overage!