Friendly reminders...

some friendly reminders of why i'm doing this... 

for whenever i am feeling weak...

or hungry...

or defeated...

i have images like this to remind me

:)

what the egg!!!

it seems as though there is a love-hate relationship with dieting and the egg. they are full of protein, and keep me full longer than any fibrous brick of chocolate covered whatever, or any cardboard tasting cereal, but whenever i enter in my little "calorie tracker" that i've eaten an egg or two... i get all these red flags. saturated fat. cholesterol. and so on....

{photo via pinterest.com}

is an egg really that bad for you? my mother {who has a degree in nutrition, so she's pretty legit}  seems to think a breakfast with eggs every day is probably not so good for you, but eggs are much better than these little diet apps make it seem. an egg is not like eating a mcDonalds cheeseburger. but it does contain a lot more saturated fat and cholesterol than ... let's say... special K cereal.

but they're so so so good.

maybe now is the time to switch to egg whites.

one final return...

i am back. again. for the umpteenth time.

but this time, it will be different. it already is different. things are changing - though not physically, yet, but mentally things are changing. i am slowly ridding myself of temptation. i am learning what it is like to be hungry, and be okay with it. now before you go and assume i am embracing an eating disorder, allow me to explain:

before i started this one last attempt at "dieting" about 2 weeks ago, i was never hungry. i was never hungry because i hated the feeling. the emptiness in my stomach that felt like small stabs, and the rumbling of hunger was just too uncomfortable for me to ever allow it. so, i ate too much 3 times a day AND snacked too much in between to eliminate any possibility of the feeling of hunger.

so now, i drink as much water as i can to suppress the hunger pains in between my much-smaller meals, and they really are starting to get better. my stomach is shrinking. i don't have to eat as much to feel satisfied {notice i didn't say full}. i am getting used to the rumbling, meaning i am getting used to eating less. i am getting used to eating what i should be, rather than what my eyes think i should be.

other good changes i've noticed:
* i am saying no to 400+ calorie breakfast items that i used to so easily cave in to.
* i am eating "just enough" for breakfast and lunch AND i am getting some exercise in too
* i am realizing that soda really isn't all that wonderful
* i am craving less junk food

things to still work on:
* dinner - still over-eating on this one every now and then
* my sweet tooth kicks in every now and again - gotta get a handle on that
* not weighing myself so much. i used to weigh every day and it just wasn't healthy or helpful. it's too discouraging because of the ups and downs of water weight. i need to weigh myself once a month.

so there's the update on my progress. more to come.