PRETTY MUCH PLAIN VANILLA - YUM

A couple of years ago  frozen yogurt places started popping up all over the place.  At the time I just didn't "bite."  I'm not sure why.  Way back in the '80's before Tom and I were married we frequently went out after dinner for fro yo.  Then it just went away for a long time.

This last week though,  I wanted a little something and I was tired of the Atkins bars stashed in the drawer of my desk.  I went into the yogurt place near work - Yogurtland - and found they had a no sugar added option in French Vanilla (my favorite flavor) and so I eyeballed a fist size and added some chopped almonds.  It was 6 ounces total and it was good.

 When I got back to work I went on their website and was delighted to see that 4 oz was just 80 calories - so I think the yogurt was probably 5 oz and the nuts 1 oz.  That adds up to less than one of my Atkins bars! 

However,  there was only one no-sugar added flavor available and  they change the flavors frequently; so I can't count on there being a friendly flavor everytime, so I will have to be willing to walk away!

Could you?  Do you FroYo?

STEP 1 AGAIN

I mentioned in my main blog that I don't need to make a resolution to lose weight and get into shape - it holds honorary,  perennial status.

But I do need to have an approach.  January my goal is to get off and stay off sugar.  I started today.  My experience is that the physical "withdrawal" hits on day 2 or 3.  So I have planned to have some celery, carrots, nuts and popcorn on hand to nibble when the cravings hit.  I am also going to avoid the other bugaboos - like things made with white flour which can also set off those cravings.

My many years of experience tell me that after 5 days or so the sweets craving will subside and I can move to a new phase in my attack.  I am giving myself all of January to get my carby little  ducks in a row.  I have been pulling out veggie recipes and making meal plans.

I have a big clean out the pantry day planned, too.  My husband loves his sugar, but I can buy him things I won't be tempted by.  However, when the will power is low, I am known to go through the pantry and get creative.  So all the little leftover cookie makings will go out - the coconut, the toffee bits come to mind.

I am trying to get up the nerve to put one of those weight loss "tickers" on the sidebar.  I am not in the habit of revealing my actual weight.  Who am I kidding? I NEVER reveal my actual weight.  So we'll see about that leap.

WILL POWER IN A MINE FIELD

What is there to say?  Yo Yo Me here.  Although when I got on the scale at the gym on Sunday and saw the upwards creep I was shocked and have been on track since.  I also had occasion to put on the old vest they gave me when I started my job in November and I can't button it.  Yikes.  So then I measured myself and I am many inches larger than I was in early November. 

Not good.  Not the direction I want to be going.  No, no, no.

I could do a show and tell ( but I won't because running around the lobby and office with a camera would be frowned upon) of all the temptations I am surrounded by every night I work and you would understand.  Bowls of candy, trays of pastries and cookie jars which I must keep stocked also popcorn and these amazing flavored peanuts in the bar.  And yes, there are bowls of fruit, too. 

I bring my nice healthy dinner each night and drink lots of water and green tea.  The majority of the time I am not tempted.  I am busy or  good at distracting myself.  It is just those nights that I slip, I can't even say what it is that happens or why some times I am just so hungry and nothing fills me up.

I have always had extraordinary "will power."  I realize at some point after the summer I just stopped having the will.  Now I need to summon it up again.  Times are tough but I need to get tougher!