Sometimes, It's The Small Things

© Punkin Dunkin Productions

I was just standing in a muddy garden, clicking away at some big pink flowers still in bloom when I turned around and caught the view of the underside of the flower. I never saw the ladybug until I zoomed in later on to crop the image.

Expanding on today's title, I am doing as much as I can in terms of the small things to keep myself on track with my weight loss. I haven't been following Atkins very well, however, when I do eat something way off the charts, I can feel it for hours afterward. I made a huge pot of chicken and dumpling soup this weekend. That was always my favorite dish to eat when I was a kid. I always knew there were other items in the soup like chicken, potatoes and vegetables, but I only remember the dumplings and I remember a lot of them! I ate maybe 3 servings during dinnertime. Well, the two things that I noticed this time when we had the soup were 1) the potato rolls bought for the soup tasted just awful. I haven’t had a straight up bakery item in awhile and for some reason, the smell and texture and taste was just off. The roll was fine physically, I’m sure that the grocery store had just made it that day. What I’m thinking is that my tastes have changed and I no longer crave the taste bread like I used to. I just found the rolls to be repulsive and I even had to go as far as covering up the taste by dipping them repeatedly in soup. Covering up the taste of rolls? I’ve gone mad!! And the second thing was the horrible crash I experienced after lunch on Monday when I had leftovers. I don’t get lethargic after any meal when I’m eating low carb. This was such a low; I was falling asleep at my desk! It hit me like a ton of bricks. I remarked to my roommate that I was going to have to cut back on the dumplings and eat more of the chicken and vegetables. How could my favorite childhood dish be so bad to me?!?!?

The little things I do to keep myself on track are eating smaller portions, buying one 10 cent piece of candy for the taste instead of a whole candy bar, passing up the free donuts at work (not to hard on that one seeing as I think I have a slight allergy to donuts anyway), looking high and low each day for food that is going to fill me up instead of leaving me hungry and depressed later. I ate chicken salad today for the first time in my life. I didn’t exactly enjoy it but I knew that it was a much better choice than humongous sandwiches wrapped in bread or scarfing down pizza or even a big-ass serving of Chai tea. When I did finally break down this afternoon to get something really sweet, I went for a Cliff Bar. I know the 40 grams of carbs were not spectacular, however, it was a much better choice than anything else that would have had trans fat in it. So, I am working on the little things, the little habits. I walk as much as I can, choosing the long way to the bus stop instead of the one right outside my lecture hall’s door. I have been beating myself up for not losing as much weight as I’d like. But I realized that with all the little things I do all the time, and all the time I have to spend at work and school and doing housework or studying instead of being able to get exercise, I have lost 3 pounds since I got home from September’s vacation. I think 2 of those happened in the first month of school. I’ve never lost weight while going to school at the same time. It’s always been too stressful to maintain it. I think I’m doing much better right now. Sometimes, it is just the small things.