Thursday, November 3, 2011

The greatest invention since sliced bread

Bite Size and Fun Size Candy


OK, I'll admit, things like penicillin and hand sanitizer kinda trump these sugary tidbits, but this is a weight loss blog - so go with me on this one!!

First off, let me apologize for not being terribly consistent with my blogging...when I entered this competition I had so many creative ideas for blog posts and things I wanted to share with those who would listen - then the time came to produce and life just kinda kicked my butt. It's been 3 weeks and my kids are still coughing, I still have a sore throat and cough, and unfortunately, when I get sick the house doesn't self - clean, the magical meal elf doesn't suddenly show up to make dinner appear, and despite my best efforts the baby still can't feed herself 6 times a day.

I was so pumped about this competition...I really thought I had a chance at losing some serious weight. Then I realized that being a mother of 3 working full-time (even working from home takes some serious work!!) and homeschooling a kindergartner kind of takes most of the free time I might have. So after a few weeks I have realized that even just losing a pound a week is a miracle in itself. I also took a serious look at my weight loss goals and realized that it's OK if I can't compete with the awesomeness of those who are losing multiple pounds a week...while I'll admit I'm totally jealous, I have to remember that any weight loss is a triumph...and heck, even at a pound a week, after 10 weeks, that's 10 pounds. Keep it up and 20 weeks is a whopping 20 pounds...and you can see where I'm going.  I also know that slow weight loss is more meaningful weight loss in terms of keeping the weight off, and I now understand why - because you are creating habits, and skills for eating and exercising that become part of your daily life. You begin to make eating healthy a regular habit and don't have to think about it all the time. Want proof?? Over the past 4 weeks I have developed a new favorite snack - Honeycrisp apples!! That's right - I am truly discovering that fruit is nature's candy. Honestly, I can sit and eat a Honeycrisp apple and satisfy any sweet craving I have.

So...back to the top of my post - why are those bite size goodies such an amazing invention?? Because they are the best friend to calorie counting people everywhere. We all know that when you eat candy, no one wants to eat just one bite of a whole candy bar....AND...who wants to eat just one flavor - we want to eat something crunchy, and something smooth and something with peanut butter maybe, right??

Going through our kids' Trick or Treat bags, we found lots of these tiny morsels and I was really thrilled to see them! I love that when I have a candy craving I can grab 2 or 3 of these little guys and satisfy that sweet tooth without having to waste over 200 calories like I would with a normal size candy bar. You get those few bites you need to satisfy, but you feel like you're eating more because you're opening a few different wrappers.

Anyone else feel like that??

I hope everyone here had a happy and safe Halloween!! We loved it...with 2 kids now old enough to really enjoy the night we had a blast!! Not only did the kids score some serious loot, I got some GREAT exercise!! We took our double stroller with us so we could go further and then the kids could just ride back instead of having to stop and turn back earlier to save sore feet and whining. I also had our baby in a front - facing carrier the entire time which was a workout in itself. I was sore afterwards (the entire walk back to my in-law's house was uphill!!) but it was totally worth it!! I also learned that our baby LOVES that front-facing carrier, and will even fall asleep if she's tired enough, so I can now go for walks with all 3 kids!! That's right, I can put the older 2 in the double jogger and put the baby in the carrier!! There won't be any jogging, or even power walking, but I think that even walking for an hour at about a 2 mile pace is going to burn some serious calories when you're pushing a 25-30 pound stroller with 75 pounds of kid seated inside, PLUS carrying 13 pounds of baby on your chest. I'm sure I look ridiculous, but the fact that I can go out for a walk without having to worry about kids running in the street is totally worth the stares!!

I promise to try and be better about posting - and to try to hopefully lose more than just a pound this week.  With the new walking options I think I should start seeing much better results since I can burn a few more calories!! This past week was a tough one because I did finally have that one lovely visitor that all of the other contestants have been seeing these past few weeks - and I totally forgot how much water you retain when mother nature sends her evil minions to visit. I haven't had to really deal with it in over a year since I just had a baby a few months ago!! So, hopefully by next weigh-in that will be out of the way and I should be a lot more pleased with the scale!!

Talk to you soon!!

2 comments:

Catherine said...

I'm a big fan of those fun size candy bars, too. I like dessert and I like treats. I'm totally not going to break a Snickers bar in half and only eat one half, but when there's a mini Snickers bar sitting on my dinner plate, it's a very welcome, satisfying treat! :)

Briana said...

I'm actually doing battle with these fun sized candies as we speak. I'm going to have to give them away, because I just can't stop snacking on them. I normally lose about 1 lb per week too and over time it all REALLY adds up.