I McCheated...Big Time

After a long, audible sigh, I'm ready to begin writing this post. You can already see where this is going from the title. But let me start on a positive note (before we get to the ugliness)...I have lost another pound (7 total now in 13 days). Yay me!

Okay - to pick up where I left off, I had a whole wheat pita with pizza sauce (from the jar) and a half a cup of reduced fat mozzarella (a healthy, mini pizza) for dinner on Wednesday night. I also made one for my son (but added mini pepperoni to his - have you seen these? They are adorable!). I devoured mine in about 5 minutes I was so hungry (this is becoming common-place for me). He's a more discerning eater than I am these days and he casually ate two or three of his miniature slices. When he announced he was "done", I ate the rest of his...well, mainly just the cheese and pepperoni (not so much the pita). For dessert my kiddo had an M & M ice cream sandwich; it was his treat for behaving like a civilized human being at the grocery store on the way home that day. He didn't finish that either and I had 3 bites. There was still about half left but I threw it in the trash, feeling somewhat regretful that I had succumbed even to those 3 bites.

Thursday morning I had half of a whole wheat English muffin with a thin layer of light cream cheese and some lean turkey. Let me back up a second and say that when I went into the kitchen at work to make my breakfast, someone had brought in DUNKIN DONUTS! Now...doughnuts are pretty much my favorite food in the whole wide world but I somehow managed to walk by them at least 5 times yesterday and never even opened the lid (well, maybe once I did). Awesome self-control if I do say so myself. Yesterday for lunch I had a 6" sweet onion chicken teriyaki sandwich on whole wheat from Subway. I have always wanted to try this sub, even though chicken is just "meh" to me, but never have because I love their tuna and their spicy Italian - two of the worst, most fattening sandwiches they have, naturally. I had a LaCroix sparkling water with it. No soda, no chips. Which brings me to my McCheat last night. We stopped by my parents' house on the way home and by the time we were headed home it was already 7:00. Kiddo was hungry (I was beyond hungry) and there's a McDonald's on the way so I thought hey, I'll just stop and get him a happy meal and I'll make something healthy (perhaps another little pizza?) for myself after he goes to bed at 8:00. I promise you...I really thought this. But while I was in the drive-thru waiting my turn, I had a little time to ponder it and decided I would get a regular hamburger for myself too. I remembered hearing once (from an ultra-thin friend) that their hamburgers were only like 300 calories (I checked today - they only have 250 calories). I proceeded to eat the entire hamburger on the way home (keep in mind we only live 4 blocks away). After my son finished his dinner (that's code for "ate half"), I ate his remaining two chicken McNuggets and about 12 of his french fries. Then I had ONE (I swear) mini whopper egg. *Another audible sigh*

This little indiscretion, however, has taught me a valuable lesson. When I eat nothing between lunch and dinner, I am so hungry by the time I get home that I put myself at risk of grabbing a bag of potato chips out of the pantry (I wouldn't have them in the house at all if I didn't live with other people who have their weight under control) and eating half the bag. Through this experience, I have come to realize that I need to eat something before I leave the office every day. I need to arrive at home (or wherever I'm going) about half full so I will not make hasty decisions that I will come to regret. And I plan to do just that from here on out. Strangely enough, I don't seem to have as much of a problem on the weekends. I think it's because I'm not as rushed. Rushing causes mistakes - and dieting is no exception to this rule.