Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Yesterday was an interesting eating day and that's putting it mildly.  My day started as normal.  I was up early with Samuel and getting the kids up to start their school day. As soon as everyone was up I told them to start breakfast while I did my exercises. I normally have 2 bananas before my workout but did not because it was Friday.  I go to WW to weigh in on Fridays and never eat or drink anything before I go so I know that my weigh-ins are consistent compared to last week.

After my workout I got ready and left for my WW meeting.  It was a great weigh-in. I lost 1.2 pounds.  It was a nice feeling because I lost .8 last week so that has added up to 2 pounds that I had gained back over the past few months.  I have just a little bit more to go to have all of the holiday weight off. I'm a little disappointed that it took me so long to get my act together but at least I didn't give up.

After my encouraging meeting I went grocery shopping. I am very good about shopping only from my list.  I had my list and I just had a few odds and ends that I needed.  My first mistake on this shopping trip was that I went to the store hungry.  Usually I bring 2 bananas to my meeting and eat them while listening to the meeting but we were out of bananas at home and didn't see anything else in the kitchen that I wanted to bring.  This made me very hungry by the time I was at the grocery store.  I was mood for a treat.  It was a new week and the start to the weekend. I eat most of my treats on the weekends these days.

My first cue to being in trouble should have been that everything looked good.  The first thing I saw was chips and I wanted to buy all of them.  I rarely even eat chips. If I am going to have a treat, my first choice is never chips.  I kept that in mind and passed up the chips.  Then I saw trail mix.  I am a sucker for trail mix.  If it includes chocolate, I'm in.  Trail mix is one of those foods that sounds healthy but eaten in large quantities can be very high in fat and calories.  I passed on the trail mix knowing my passed experiences with large quantities.  Then I saw the chocolate covered pretzels.  That was it!  That was going to be my treat today.  I barely hesitated as I put it in my cart.  It was not a single serving bag but it wasn't huge either so I figured if I ate the whole bag I wouldn't do too much damage.

As I shopped I found myself back in the aisle with the pretzels and trail mix again.  I compared them carefully so I could be sure I was picking the right treat.  The trail mix bag had more servings and more calories per serving so I decided that the chocolate covered pretzels were the right choice.  I finished my shopping without any other impulse purchases. I filled my cart with non-fat yogurt, string cheese, fresh fruits, vegetables and fish.  It all looked so healthy - except for the chocolate covered pretzels.

I packed it all up in the car and brought my pretzels to the front seat.  I was out by myself.  The kids were safe at home. I was hungry and in a peaceful car. I broke open the bag and started eating them happily as I drove to my next destination.  I had a couple more stops to make while I munched on my pretzels.  As I got close the end of the bag I realized that I was no longer hungry and really should stop eating. I peeked into the bag and saw that it was nearly empty.  "Ah, why save just a serving in the bag? I may as well just finish it off," I thought to myself.  So I did.  I will admit that I enjoyed the pretzels. It had been a week since I had eaten any such treat and I felt that it probably wouldn't be that costly of a treat.  After all, pretzels are a low-fat food.

When I got home I went on the computer to track my pretzels.  I saved the bag so I could get it exact.  Although I had looked at the bag in the store I didn't look carefully enough. I had eaten all of my points for the day except for 3.  It was not even noon yet and I had 3 measly points left in my day.  I had eaten one food all day.  That's crazy........but that's the situation I put myself in to have that treat - too much of that treat.  They were good.  I savored those chocolate covered pretzels but I could have eaten half of the bag and still have been satisfied.

That gave me a decision to make.  Was I going to go over my points for the day or just eat 3 more points for the day.  It's hard to eat lunch, snacks and dinner all on 3 points.  In fact, it's almost impossible in my point of view.  I decided to see what the day would bring me.  As it was lunch time and the kids were eating I asked myself if I was going to eat too.  The answer was no.  I wasn't hungry at all.  Apparently I had already eaten lunch - a bag of chocolate covered pretzels.   It was then snack time for the kids and I asked myself if I was going to eat a snack too.  The answer was again, no.  I still wasn't hungry. In fact I felt like I had a bowling ball in my stomach.  Hmmmmmm......could it be too many chocolate covered pretzels?

It was now dinner time.  I fed the kids and was slightly hungry but still had that bad feeling in my stomach.  I knew that my body needed something that some nutritional value to it.  I was on my way out the door to a meeting at church and grabbed an apple, orange, mini peppers and carrots.  This would my nutrition for the day. The poor feeling in my stomach was starting to subside so I ate my mini pepper and carrots on the way to church.  They were delicious, filling and my body felt good.  After my meeting, I ate my orange and left the apple for Bryan.  Somehow I ended the day without going over my points.

It was a lesson learned.  I'm sure I'll eat chocolate covered pretzels again but next time my stomach will thank me if I eat only half of the bag.

Have a great day,
Corinna

"By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires." -Galatians 5:22-25