“Eating Enough”

Hello Friends!  Yesterday was the first day that I followed my meal plan I set for myself and I definitely think it went really well.  It kicked off with an egg white pancake topped with one spoonful of peanut butter and chia seed blueberry jam.  

 

You see… I was having this issue… a nut butter issue… I’d think I was fine all day long then I’d come home and could not pull myself away from the jar of peanut butter (well most likely peanut butter but if there wasn’t any of that really any food).  I really did not think that this was related to how much I was eating throughout the day, or what I was eating.  Like so many of my clients I felt it was MY fault, that it was a total lack of self control.  Then I felt bad in the morning, so I’d try to “restrict” or “lighten up” the next day to make up for it… which inevitably led to the cycle repeating.  The thing about a cycle is it has to be broken, but sometimes that goes against everything we know to be true.

My favorite pre workout morning snack: UCAN Bar!

After WEEKS of feeling like a miserable failure, I finally broke the cycle, and how amazing does it feel!  I didn’t realize how much stress or distraction was shutting off my appetite during the day.  Every meal after breakfast time felt kind of “weird,” I realized had to make a concerted effort to fit them in.  Sometimes that meant eating lunch while I was on the phone… brussel sprouts, shredded carrots, brown rice/quinoa mix, and sausage.

 

or asking to leave a few minutes at the end of meeting with my supervisor to get a smoothie (whey, 1/2 banana, peanut butter, spinach, glutamine) …

 

I felt kind of weird and like a crazy person eating so much… but you betcha I was hungry when it came 7pm, so I ate a Quest bar while we had our nutrition support group.

 

So what happened when I got home?  I could have cared less about the jars of nut butter in the fridge, I didn’t even think about them (okay mostly).  I did have a small piece of dark chocolate, a couple strawberries… and a couple very tiny pieces of steak (that’s because it taste really good and I knew there wouldn’t be any left for me tomorrow).

A few snacks, but definitely better than feeling that out of control snacking feeling.  I feel like I’m back on track already!

Have you ever been guilty of not eating enough during the day?  

How do you jump back on the healthy train when you feel you’ve fallen off?