The Carbs put me to sleep...

Hi friends!

I'm so excited to report on my Thanksgiving Day- I don't think I could've done much better if I'd wanted to.  First of all- I got up and weighed in this morning to find I finally broke the 140 barrier again...139.8.  YES!  Then I headed over to the gym with one of my good friends I call Mick D.  She is so awesome and we had plans to spend pretty much the whole day together.  So we went to the gym first thing this morning and did a kick trash work out.  Then we came home- took showers, got ready, and made a sweet potato casserole before heading over to my other friend Relief's house.  Relief's mom had a huge Thanksgiving planned for her family and us (Mick D and I).  It was so awesome!  The food was SO divine and I did so well- I must say I'm pretty proud of myself.

Since I knew I would probably be eating a lot today- I had a light dinner last night.  This morning- same thing- light breakfast pre-workout with no carbs; and a light snack to tide me over after the gym til dinner- which was around 4ish?  Well- by the time it was time to eat- I was starving.  But I had already planned to eat slowly, listen to my body, and stop when I felt full.  IT WORKED!  Don't get me wrong- this doesn't always work for me- it seems like 75 percent of the time I just ignore the 'full' feeling and keep going- but lately I've been working really hard on listening to my body and slowing down.  Other people eat slowly, enjoy their food, and have stimulating conversation over dinner.  Why can't I?  I tend to inhale everything in sight until I'm uncomfortable.  Conversation, enjoyment- they all seem to go out the window.  But I want to change, and change I will. :)

I did end up having a little turkey AND a little sugar tonight. :(  Doh!  I made it 43 days with no sugar, but while doing the dishes, I randomly decided all of the sudden to "clean up" the edges of the sweet potato casserole (which I helped make and therefore knew it had sugar in it).  I "cleaned up" about a serving's worth of edges in the pan. :(  But I'm totally not upset about it; for one thing- I didn't over eat.  For another, it's a holiday.  For a third thing- this was my first attempt at going sugar free and I made it 43 days!  When the pumpkin pie and all of the desserts came out- I decided I didn't need to have any. :)  I felt a little sick from the sugar (stomach ache) and I did get a headache a little while later, so no more sugar for me.  Guilt also TRIED to set in for a brief moment a little while later (when the stomach ache kicked in?), but I just decided that I will start being sugar free again tomorrow and there's no use for guilt so I let it go asap.  As for the turkey- I had a VERY SMALL piece of turkey with gravy on it and don't feel bad about that either.  After talking to one of my vegetarian friends last night about some issues she's having right now in her life (she's been a vegetarian since she was 8), I've decided that an OCCASIONAL piece of meat is good for my body (protein wise) and I will not feel bad about it.  Maybe only on holidays or something- still haven't decided exactly what I'm going to do or how much I'm going to have yet.  

I was so surprised to find out that my friend- who has been a vegetarian since she was 8, has the absolute worst diet and doesn't seem to know anything about keeping track of the amount of protein she puts in her body.  How can someone be a vegetarian since they were a child and not know the importance of protein in their diet, especially as a non-meat eater?  I thought this was common knowledge! It blows my mind sometimes.  She confessed she eats things like mashed potatoes, stuffing, and pretty much all carbs all day long.  In her defense, she's been a vegetarian since she was a child and her whole family is very strict vegetarian, so maybe no one ever taught her- maybe her parents just included protein in however they did it and never really explained the importance of protein- I'm not sure.  I know they were having a tofurkey dinner tonight.  Consequentially, because she's not getting any protein tho (or not enough anyway), she has been very sick lately and is having a hard time getting better- and she is starting to think it may be because of her diet.  I think it's because of her diet too.  So we had a nice little chat- and I felt so good about my decisions to research and think long and hard about what I'm doing before deciding to go semi-vegetarian a little while ago.  I have been making a lot of efforts lately to watch my carb intake as well and that is really making the most difference (although this has only been happening really since last Thursday).  

I feel so responsible!!  I'm so happy!  This day was a huge success for me.  I am so so so thankful for the things I am learning and the responsibility I am finally taking for my body and my diet- it's long overdue.  I am so thankful for my health!  But if I climb on the health pedestal that I'm on everyday lately- this post will end up being a mile long.  And nobody wants that- so I will refrain. :)

Happy Black Friday friends!  XOXO!!!!

D