Staying on track

I find that if I record my foods, snacks and miscellaneous items either the night before (for the next day), or early in the morning it really helps me to stay on track with my foods and nutrition throughout the day. Since I am a very plain eater and enjoy sticking to the same types of foods for the most part, it's fairly easy for me to know what my meals and snacks will be ahead of time and I can always go back and make adjustments to food types, portion size, etc.

For me, by doing this, it's easy to refer back to my log throughout the day and stick with my plan. I am also the kind of person who likes to make plans, lists, schedules, etc. so (and I know it's a mental thing), once it's down on paper so to speak I very rarely veer off of the plan.

Also, I like to log all of my foods and snacks and try to work in healthy choices staying under my calorie target for the day before any of my workouts. This way I know that I have some free calories or some wiggle room throughout or at the end of the day. I am a night time snack person and it's been extremely difficult to break that habit so by doing this, after I log my exercise at the end of the day, I almost always have a deficit and a few hundred calories left over which makes me feel really good about having some of those healthy night time snacks.

Snacking at night used to stress me out because I would snack and log, snack and log, and watch the number go up. But knowing how many calories I have left over going into it allows me the leeway to snack, or not to snack, within reason and in control without going over my numbers for the day. Not having the stress of it also enables me to actually refrain from the snack attack

This might not work for everyone because I know a lot of people like a wider variety of foods than I do. While I do enjoy a variety my taste seems to change every few weeks rather day daily. I could eat the same breakfast, lunch and dinner every day for two or three weeks before I feel that I need a change.

The weekends are very similar. With the exception of me and my husbands date night which happens either every Friday or Saturday night, the food choices pretty much remain the same.

My date night is a little different. I have to say, MFP has taught me how to go out for a beautiful dinner and still be able to make sensible, (mostly) healthy choices and portion control. I always order exactly what I want, within reason. For example... I stick to a low carb diet but when we go out I always indulge in the bread basket! I always get a salad to start the meal (dressing on the side or simply vinegar and I forgo the cheese and croutons) My meal always consists of a protein and double veggie and I usually ask for the starch on the side or I skip it all together. We almost always share an appetizer (that's free), and I always get dessert! But I've learned to take it really slow and eat only about half of what they give me... box up the rest.

Have you ever noticed that most restaurant portions are huge? jeez....

I usually ask for sauces, creams, etc. to be on the side so that I can control how much of it I have. If there is rice involved I always ask for the brown or wild rice. Most times I go for a double veggie vs. a veggie and a starch.

Then again... once in a while I just throw caution to the wind and order absolutely everything I want and I enjoy the hell out of it!

Thanks for reading