Friday, June 20, 2008

151.0 - Drinking vs. Eating

So since I've been tracking my food on WW for almost two weeks, I've discovered something about myself that I didn't realize before. I have a habit of drinking a good portion of my food.

I have coffee in the morning with a measured tablespoon of creamer & sugar--2 points.

For breakfast I will often have either a SlimFast high protein shake (3 points) or an LAWL SlimDown shake (5 points--with 20 grams of protein and 260 calories, this is a real meal in a can).

Then once or twice a week I'll get a tall skinny latte from Starbucks--2 points.

And what if I feel like a glass of milk at night before bed? That's 2 more points for 8 oz. of skim milk.

That adds up to between 5 to 11 points, depending on the combination of what I have. My daily points allotment is 20, with an additional weekly allowance of 35 points. I usually take in between 23 - 28 points a day, so these liquid points can make up a significant portion of what I don't eat.

I love coffee, but I have to have it flavored and creamy, so I can't drink it black. I'm totally not willing (yet) to give up my java. I would drink more if I could figure out a way to make it calorie free and still enjoyable (and I hate the taste of artificial sweetener in my coffee--the heat does something funky to it).

And some mornings I just don't have the desire to eat, so the protein shake works well for me.

Yet, I look back at my points totals at the end of the day and go "hey! I didn't even get to CHEW those points. That's not fair!"

What's a girl to do? Whine about it on her blog, I suppose, is one option, which I'm doing now.

Another option is to work on a solution. This morning, I did not want food at 7:30 a.m., just my coffee. So I didn't eat at home (I'm a big believer in eating something within an hour of waking up to get your metabolism going, so this was mentally tough for me), and waited to eat breakfast at the office. I brought 1/4 c. of Grape Nuts, an 80 cal. low fat vanilla yogurt, and a banana. I mixed it all together in a big coffee mug and had a satisfying and tasty 5 point breakfast.

I've only had 2 points to drink today, and don't feel nearly as ripped off as I did yesterday when I drank 9 of my 28 points for the day. That was just wrong, man.

***
Yesterday I got in a good 45 minute run (well, actually it was 47 minutes) for a total of 4 miles on the treadmill. For whatever reason, my lungs weren't playing along and even though I'd hit my inhaler on the way to the gym, my breathing was difficult. Next time I'm going to try to do the inhaler 20 or so minutes before I leave so it has more time to work. And if that doesn't help, I'll be talking with the doctor about what else I need to do. Because it bites to be running 11 min. miles and still be struggling for air.

I had 10.5 points all together last night, after 5:30. It was all very controlled, very healthy, nothing "bad," but I was starving and just couldn't get enough food. I thought I was done after my LF pudding cup snack at 8:30, but by 10 p.m. I felt woozy and sick, like I still needed something to eat. That's when I reviewed my day and went "DOH! I drank 9 points, no wonder I'm hungry." So I had a 3 point snack of 1/2 T. peanut butter, 1/2 banana, and a WW English muffin at 10:30. I felt much better, but knew the scale would be up a bit this morning. It's not a biggie, really. I am not expecting every day to be a losing day. It just doesn't work like that. But, scale 'ho that I am, I still don't like it when I'm this close to 149 and it goes the other way.

Ah, well. Today is another day to git-r-done right. Have a kick-@ss weekend, friends.
***
I NEED YOUR ADVICE.... Sophie is getting her tonsils & adenoids out on Monday, 6/23. We have to be at the surgery center at 5 a.m. (ugh, but thankfully it's only a 2 minute drive from our house) and the surgery is at 7. Any advice or stories you can share--the good, the bad, and the ugly--would be appreciated.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good luck Sophie!!!

I had my tonsils out when I was five and all I remember is getting to eat lots of ice cream and popsicles. She'll be fine, and maybe after this she won't get sick as often.

I think that all liquids should be calorie free - but if that were the case, I'd drink a whole lot more margaritas than I do now!!!

Have a good weekend chickie!! ;)

Vickie said...

Youngest is my only one - it was actually her adenoids that were HUGE and needed to come out. I insisted they take the tonsils at the same time.

She was under 4 (can't remember if it was 2 or 3) and was kept at the hospital over night. So surgery was early morning - she stayed that whole day - that night and most of the next day - she was on IV's and puking the whole time.

She did better with popsicles and juice - my kids are not big on "cow" dairy ice cream can be kind of gaggy for them - and it was especially so after surgery. (Sorbet is kids new thing - no fat and much lower calories and just a cleaner taste.)

Suggestion: HYDRATE her solidly for several days before surgery. I realize there will be a cut off point of no food or beverage before surgery - but hydrate her thoroughly in the days BEFORE.

We also did the hospital tour - saw where the pop cycles were kept, tried on a hospital gown, saw the kissing corner where you give your mom and dad a kiss and then go for a ride, saw where mom and dad wait, saw the fish tank, etc.

they also gave her a hugging doll to have with her during her hospital stay.

I just asked her - what/if she remembered about it - she does remember non-stop puking, she remembered riding in the hospital wagon, and she remembered the popsicles.

Vickie said...

And she still has the hugging doll.

Vickie said...

don't wear any eye makeup that day.

Helen said...

I agree about the things we drink...I absolutely HATE to "waste" calories and not get to chew!! Have you tried stevia as a sweetener? It's a calorie-free herb and I use it in my hot drinks (and in cooking). To me, it tastes a lot better than artificial sweeteners.

Good luck on Monday...Vickie's last advice made me smile. :-)

LMI said...

I can't give any advice re: surgery for a child (especially to a mother), but if you want to take socks for her to wear in the operating room (so her feet don't get cold), make sure they're all cotton. Unnatural fibers can have a weird effect on the OR machinery--at least that's what they told me.

Also, I don't know what time she's scheduled to go into surgery, but be mentally prepared to either wait or to go in earlier than you expect. Even though you're getting there at 5 AM (unless she's the first person scheduled).

She's going to come through this great!

Grumpy Chair said...

I know you will be busy on Monday morning - I will be thinking of Sophie (I get up at 5:00).

I don't like sweet coffee, but I do on occasion ask for it with cream (like at Starbucks). I think a tblsp = 50 calories. Yikes!

Enjoy your weekend!

Heather said...

interesting observation! I also am quite the same way. I drink 2 cups of coffee with cream and sugar, and I also still drink the LA Slimdowns (or Slimfast sometimes too). I didnt realize the slimdowns would be that high in points. That was one thing I noticed with WW though when I did it years ago..I stopped drinking milk because I didnt want to waste my points on a drink. How sad is that? even if you look at what you drink and see if its worth the points, dont give up the liquids that are healthy because youd rather have a 2 pt snack instead. I wish I never would have stopped that because now I still rarely drink milk and I used to love it.

Jess said...

Well, would you be willing to trade in the creamer for skim milk? And the sugar for something like Splenda? Spelenda tastes a little better than other artificial sweeteners.

Anonymous said...

Hi Laura, I've been thinking about this entry since you wrote it. I'm not one to drink my points. That said, I did make myself a smoothie today. My version is just frozen fruit and non-fat milk, maybe a little vanilla and splenda if needed. Very very good, and only 2 points.

I also love my coffee creamy. Good luck with the nonfat milk. I just can't adjust. Coffee w/half and half is still a daily for me. But 2 Tbsp of half and half is only 1 point, so that's worth it for me. I even tried fat free half and half, and that didn't work either. I do love splenda, best of all the artificial sweeteners.