back on track?

So I haven't posted on this for a while. I spent most of October in a funk, doing what I thought I should be doing food-wise and kind of half-assing it on the exercise, but with no real progress, just kind of bouncing around between 442 and 448. Up a little here, down a little there, it was motion without advancement. I was letting myself eat some drive-through - a Chicken Fajita Pita here, an Egg McMuffin there, but of course that's never all it was. I was using beef jerky as a protein snack, and that meant going into 7-11 sometimes and facing down the taquitos, sometimes unsuccessfully. So I had the occasional fast-food freakout, culminating in a binge where I ate about 2500 calories in 2 hours from three different restaurants. Not good, eh?

When H went out of town 10 days ago, it seemed like it was time to do something different. I stayed in most of that time, and ate about 1200 cals a day, down from the 1600-1700 I was trying for and the 2000 or so I was actually eating. It's settled in to a nice little routine now.

1 Wheat "Alternative" Bagel from Western Bagel - 110 cals
4 oz 2% cottage cheese - 100 cals
1 medium banana - 100 cals

6 oz Low Sodium Turkey Breast - 210 cals
2-3 carrots - 40 cals
1 Tbsp. Fat Free Ranch - 30 cals
1 apple - 70 cals

7 oz boiled chicken breast - 200 cals
4 oz brown rice - 150 cals
4 oz broccoli - 40 cals
4 oz grapes - 80 cals
sugar-free popsicle - 20 cals

All that's about 1150 cals. It's not easy, but it's doable. And it's working - I've lost 14 lbs and am down to 434 now.

I've learned a few valuable things. One, I can do this. Two, as far as fast food goes, no chipping. A Chicken Fajita Pita from Jack in the Box is 300 cals and not terrible as far as it goes, but it opens a door that needs to stay closed. Same for beef jerky and other so-called "reasonable" snacks - it's shitty food and even if the numbers look good, it's not good for me. Three, progress on one front begets progress on others, which I'll explain in my next post.