All Carbed Out (and Nip It! follow-up)

What a great day! If you'll remember, today was my annual family reunion, and I had the pleasure of surprising folks with my new, fitter me! There were indeed dropped jaws, and many, many expressions of joy and pride.

And carbs. There were lots and lots of carbs.

Not to worry, as this was my splurge meal. I had a great workout with Trainer Kevin last night and plans for cardio for later this afternoon, so I dug in with relish. Well, not relish, literally, since there wasn't any on the table. There were some yummy sweet-dill pickles, though. :)

I skipped anything "normal" on the table. Things like green beans, ham, cheeses, breads--I have those frequently. I skipped the fried chicken because it was store-bought and NOT my Memaw's fried chicken. (Principle!) Instead I opted for lean roast pork, deviled eggs...and carbs: corn, baked beans, a dab of potato salad, and spaghetti. Not horrible, but definitely a splurge meal.

And then there were the desserts. My cousin had mentioned how she admired my willpower, but when she saw my dessert plate, she said, "I take it back."

I looked down at my thin (1/2"?) slice of caramel cake, my half-a-brownie, and my sliver of strawberry cake, and told her it WAS willpower, because that was about half of what I really wanted. :)

The hardest part of the day was trying to explain to people that I wasn't dieting, that I eat a healthy-ish diet 99% of the time with the occasional splurge. My parents, especially, kept asking me if such-and-such was on my diet. They just couldn't understand that EVERYTHING there was "on my diet." I could have any of those things any time I want, just not all in one meal. Not even all in one week. :)

Given the portions I ate, I would've probably been within my calorie count for the day without one or two of the desserts. I would've been out-of-balance on my carb:protein ratio, but that's what splurge meals are about. I hope I didn't get snippy with any of my "advisors", but I suspect I did. Sorry.

While it was fun to visit with family (most of whom I see at this one event each year), I was eager to get home and DO something. With all those carbs rushing through my system, my feet were practically itching to walk. And so I did.

I walked and walked and walked. Believe it or not, I walked FIVE MILES. All at once. Fast! I clocked in at 1:22:50, which even allowing for any erroneous mapmywalk mileage, means I walked something between a 15 and 16 minutes mile for FIVE MILES. I have never done that before! Maybe there's something to this carb-loading. LOL

At one point during the walk, I noticed my fingers were tingling and looking down, I could see that they were white and sausage-y. I don't know what that was about, but when I lifted my arms and started pumping them as I walked, the swelling and discoloration (decoloration?) was almost gone. They're fine now. If I opt for walking tomorrow, I will NOT be walking five miles. Maybe a 5k.

So I think the abundant carbs are gone now, but they sure were fun while they lasted! I'm back on plan and looking forward to a dismal weigh-in on Monday. :)

In response to excellent Nip It! comments, a little follow-up:
- Sagan Morrow and Nicole suggested tea as a snack replacement. (Sagan also suggested carrots--YUM!) I wish I liked tea. I've tried several flavors and it's just not doing anything for me. BUT you reminded me that I have some sugar-free cocoa (25 calories per cup) in the pantry, so I may have that the next time I'm feeling overly snacky.

- Pattie asked about any "busy hands" hobbies. Sadly, I have none. My main hobbies are reading and writing, both of which I need to do more of. Your question reminded me, though, that I have many "busy hands" projects around the house here, and a snack attack would the perfect time to accomplish those. (It would be nice to have my filing from the past...um, year or so complete, too!)

- tas asked about my hunger scale. While I'm certain I didn't invent the idea of the hunger scale, I can no longer remember the original source of the one I adapted for myself. Unfortunately, I can't find the index card I had it written on, but it was something along these lines:
Stage 1 - starving, legs jiggly, lightheaded
Stage 2 - major stomach rumbling
Stage 3 - "I could eat, but I'm okay."
Stage 4 - "I feel good."
Stage 5 - "I couldn't eat another bite."
Stage 6 - "I think I'm gonna hurl."

I also assigned "snack appropriateness testing" levels for stages 3-5 (mostly 4 and 5, because snacks are frequently okay in stage 3). I don't remember all the levels, but I know boredom, stress response, and Pavlov were in there somewhere. I'll keep looking for the card. Maybe it's in my box of filing. :)

Although yesterday morning's thoughts were frequently taken over by Barney's "Nip it!" voice, by afternoon I was able to convert it to something useful. I now hear my own voice, and it's saying:

Not
In
Plan!!

I am too corny for words sometimes. :)

I'm off to put my feet up! I hope you all had a super Saturday and are looking forward to an even better Sunday!

~