40-Somethings - Tell us about a good choice you made recently

How about a pick-me-up thread... Tell us a good choice that you have made! I'll start.

I'm running the popcorn sale for our Cub Scouts group and last night was the meeting to tell us what was new with the program. Everyone walked out with a bucket of caramel corn. In the past, I would have opened it and eaten the whole thing (800 cal!!) on the drive back home. Last night, I threw it into the trunk and didn't give it a 2nd thought.

Hubby asked to meet for lunch at Wendy's yesterday. I did not even mention the word frosty and chose the grilled chicken salad and an ice tea. :)

On Sunday, my DH, who is a magnificent chef, achieved a personal best in BBQ baby back ribs. I held myself to just two ribs, and I concentrated on eating slowwwwllllyyyy. Oh, they were good!!! While others were wolfing, I behaved!

At work we have a cafeteria with a set menu. The meals served are generally healthy but the portions are HUGE! I asked the chef if I could be served a half portion and I would still pay the full price for lunch and he agreed.

If the thread is about good "food" choices then the most recent one was the other night when I had some friends over for dinner and one friend had brought this tiny little cheesecake w/strawberries for desert. The cake should have been cut in to four pieces. There were four of us here, and I cut the pieces so small that there could have been more like 16 pieces. Pretty much they were 2 bite slices. The strawberries I ate were bigger then the "slice" I had. Of course they all took more but I didn't.

If the thread is about any good choice.....was months ago, but joining 3FC is it!!!

I am a shy person that sometimes chickens out on my way to social events. In April that happened and I rerouted to the store instead and bought a box of doughnuts that I then ate over the course of the evening at home.

Friday night I also chickened out but instead drove on to the gym and worked out for an hour.

Not to worry, I don't always chicken out, but glad to know now that when I do I've replaced an unhealthy replacement with an healthy one.

Good idea, Newleaf!

This past week, my dh took my ds's to Tae Kwon Do in the evening. Instead of relaxing on the couch, I took a walk to the ocean and sat down on a rock and watched the seagulls. I felt so much better than I would have and I got a 45 minute brisk walk in on the way to and from the beach.

Mine is exercise. Yesterday I bumped up my elliptical workout 5 minutes. I do the interval training 5X a week for 20 minutes. I knew that I needed to up the workout but put it off as the interval workout kicks my butt even at 20 minutes. But yesterday I did programmed the machine for 25 minute workouts and programming it is such a pain, it wasn't just yesterdays workout. It's in there for good because I'm too lazy to change it back. :)

I went to a friend's daughters 18th on the weekend. Amidst the high fat, high calorie, greasy food choices on offer, I managed to avoid them all and stick to cous cous, sweet and sour chicken, and snow peas and carrots to nibble on.

What a great thread! Today I made fruit salad for desert instead of the brownies the kids were asking for. :)

(Alert - newbie joining in!)

Today, for the first time ever in my life I think I've chucked a piece of creamy cake in the bin - I just didn't feel like it! It was so weird, I actually thought to myself - this must be what anorexics feel all the time, and got just a tiny bit spooked.

Last night I went to the park with my son and when I got home I threw away the brownies that I bought on Saturday....I bought them cause we went tailgating before the Kenny Chesney concert and I don't know why I bought them home should have left them...but they are gone.

I'm getting ready to make good choices this weekend - on Labor Day we're having a repeat of the BBQ ribs, only for company. Our invited friends are KILLER good cooks too, and will bring their best. Coupled with good beer and laughing ... this is my awfulest temptation scenario. However ... I'm laying in a supply of my favorite fizzy La Croix sparkling waters, and I'm going to have several plates of fresh raw veggies stationed around the house.

Two days ago I tore into a giant bag of sour cream and onion ruffles (the party I was supposed to bring it to was cancelled) and started in.....oh it tasted heavenly....then FORCED myself to throw the whole thing away, bury it under mounds of the worst garbage. It felt like trashing diamonds and gold, but I did it.

Joan, you are now my official hero! :) What you did is my equivalent of climbing Everest. In a bathing suit. With no supplies. You ROCK!!!!

I was struggling to come up with a good choice to post since I've been waffling lately. BUT, here it is, and such an obvious one, too.

I made the choice to come back and post tonight, after letting a few days slip by. It is so easy to disengage. I refuse to let that happen.

Yay, I remembered another good choice. I went into the city on Tuesday to where all the wonderful food markets are. Normally I would stop at the biscotti shop and bring home a dozen biscotti. When I got to the area I thought I would just bring one or two home -- portion control. But then when it was time to make the stop at the shop, I just walked by, and got 0 biscotti. That was huge.

mmm - way to go, Newleaf - on BOTH counts!

Met a friend for dinner at Fuddrucker's last night (chain that specializes in custom, top-end burgers). I knew I was going, and I went online and checked the menu and the reviews. Much as I would have loved to drool on a 1/2 pounder with cheese sauce and potato wedges ... I stuck to the plan and got the spicy chicken taco salad with iced tea. I did nibble the shell a little, I confess ... but overall I was hugely improved over "what was".

I have been on 2 business trips in the past 2 weeks. On the first trip, I took a walk upon arrival and used the fitness center early in the morning one day and then had a big long walk at dinner time that night. This week I used the fitness center one morning. Exercising while traveling is a hard one for me (especially when the time difference is beating me up) so I was very pleased!

Peg

My good choice today was that I didn't let anything stand in the way of exercising. I did it as soon as the kids left for school, and feel good about getting it done. I even did 5 extra minutes on the elliptical so I could finish the last few pages of the book I have been reading.

I have been doing callanetics exercises and I ordered a book about how to do them. I used to do these years ago and I remember most of the exercises but the book will help me to work up to a full hour workout. I know that having the book will keep me on my exercise plan.

I looked at calorie counts online before going to Einstein's bagels, and ordered the lo-cal thing there -- soup. I've made the mistake in the past of ordering a bagel with cream cheese, and then looking it up afterwards and being shocked. They have one bagel listed (although I've never seen it in the shop) as having 700 calories!!

I'm new to posting in the 40 something corner of the world but plan to spend some more time here.

Yesterday hubby and I were at the fair and we shared a blooming onion, hotdog and funnel cake. Normally I would have insisted on not sharing! And I was satisfied with the amount I had and didn't feel deprived :D

Today I had hubby drop me off at work so I have to walk home. It's about a half hour walk home.

At work we had a big meeting with a side buffet of a variety of fresh fruit and fruit dip, chips and dip, fritos and dip, a vanilla coffee cake, a sour cream coffee cake and a chocolate coffee cake and ice cream sanwiches......whew all that food and stuff I like. I ended up eating strawberries and a banana, no dip, and one small piece of the vanilla coffee cake. I was able to stay on plan and not overeat or fill up on the crap offered.

over the last week I've exchanged my tea and coffee drinking habit (8-9 cups a day with full cream milk and 2 sugars) for herbal teas and water.

last night my husband and daughter ordered a HUGE chicken wing pizza (i love it!) but i had already eaten my dinner so i wrapped all the pizza leftovers for them and put them in the fridge--out of sight, out of mind!!

Stopped a potential backslide before it could do much damage - flipped back through my Every Da** Crumb journal and daily weights that go all the way back to February, and knew I would NOT give up. My goal is too close.

I got carried away with the day and realized that at 3:00pm I still hadn't had lunch. I forced myself to stop and have a real lunch so I wouldn't sabotage myself later.

Yesterday was a good day for good choices for me. It started with some errends I had to do. I had to go to the bank, go clothes shopping, get tea and coffee and go to the rec centre and pay for some classes. I initially planned to walk to the bank (1 mile), then catch a bus to the area that all the other things were in. I wound up walking the whole way, for a total of 4 miles walked.

Later that evening, I was on my way home from my dance class (walking 1.7 miles) and I was starving. S.T.A.R.V.I.N.G. I wanted to stop at the local greasy spoon and get some poutine, but when I got there, I realized I did not get all this exercise just to go and eat a calorie heavy dinner (and empty calories at that). I went the rest of the way home and with no regrets, had some cold chicken and tomatoes fresh from the garden.

Finally, the last good choice was about cheetos. I used to love cheetos. DH had some friends over and they were still there when I got home. They had a big bag of those addictive orange things. I didn't have any and I even threw the rest of the bag out (I too burried it at the bottom of the trash, so I wouldn't get tempted to change my mind later.

Here's a question for you all: When you make a good food choice instead of a bad one, is it because of a massive willpower effort, or do you not even want the bad food? Initially, it was the former with me, but now, I'm finding that I have no trouble picking the better choice - I *want* the good food! I never thought this would happen!

BP

Bopeep, to your question. *Usually* the good choices come easily. But there are times when I have to really, really focus to get past making a bad choice. In those situations, more often than not, I find it easier to just make the bad choice, get it over with, and move on. Goes back to the whole lifestyle thing we've been talking about... Welcome back BTW -- I'm glad you had a great summer!

Bopeep, to your question. *Usually* the good choices come easily. But there are times when I have to really, really focus to get past making a bad choice. In those situations, more often than not, I find it easier to just make the bad choice, get it over with, and move on. Goes back to the whole lifestyle thing we've been talking about... Welcome back BTW -- I'm glad you had a great summer!

It's so hard to know what is going on with my choices. Am I making good ones right now because I've finally adjusted to healthier eating habits, or is it just because I'm mentally in a good place right now. Probably a bit of both...

There are so many changes going on both mentally and physically! My attitude towards food has been one of the biggest surprises so far - I really, really, really thought I would always have this strong urge towards bad foods/too much food, and that it would be a constant lifelong battle. I'm sure that I will still struggle at times, and I will just have to accept it and move on, like you say. I'm still trying to figure out the "new me"! :lol:

BP

Good choice: leaving the wallet out in the car, and bringing in healthy snack stuff to work, to prevent any trips to the vending machine.
Good choice: I had my first snifter of good single-malt last night cuz it was COLD ... but before I did it, I looked up the calorie content, I made sure I had room, I MEASURED IT, and I wrote it down.

Good choice: leaving the wallet out in the car, and bringing in healthy snack stuff to work, to prevent any trips to the vending machine.
Good choice: I had my first snifter of good single-malt last night cuz it was COLD ... but before I did it, I looked up the calorie content, I made sure I had room, I MEASURED IT, and I wrote it down.

Oooh, it's getting cool here at night, too. Looking forward to that first glass of bourbon for the season... And really, 1 or 2 oz is plenty.

OMG you ladies are some hard drinkers that aren't playing around with the Scotch and Bourbon :-)

I gave up booze a few years ago...would rather have the calories in chocolate plus it makes me crazy :-)

hehe - I already cracked open my new bottle of Talisker! :o Winter is comming!!! I think tasty adult beverages are the one indulgance I can never give up. But between the fact that the price for my favourites has gone through the roof, and my desire to reach my weight goal, I now have a 'tasty beverage' ration. ;) Both my wallet and my waist have benefitted, and now when I do open a bottle of wine or single malt, I *really* appreciate it.

BP

Scale flickered between 152.5 and 153.0 this morning, so I'm somewhere in the middle ground. I've surprised myself with how well I've stayed with it this last week, food-wise. Much room for improvement on the exercise front, but I expect next week to kick that off.

On the adult-beverage front, yeah ... not giving that up for anything! I AM willing to cut back, and I've done that. It does make me appreciate it all the more! I got into one of our few mass-produced bottles - Glen Garioch. We joined SMSWA something like 6 or 7 years ago, so most of what we have is single-cask. There's at least 15 bottles in the cabinet, and every single one of them is totally unique. Like newleaf said - a little is enough, so it takes forever to get through a bottle. :)

Hi Ladies :wave: I am new here....found the 3FC book at the library last week and then found my way here!!!

My good choice that I made this weekend was while we were at a dinner party I had NO rice and it was served latin style with every meat they had.....I just picked it out. I also brought my own diet coke to have with rum (cant give that up at a social gathering) which was a good thing cuz all they had was wine, beer and COKE :p On top of eating and drinking good, I also passed on dessert :D so I am pretty proud of myself!!

I look forward to getting to know all of you!!!

Well, I'm not sure if this should go here, or be more of a NSV. But... my DS8 came home in quite a mood today, unbearable actually. He spent a good chunk of time in his room as a result, and is going to be 45 min early because he *must* be over-tired to behave this way. Regardless, while he was in his room, it didn't even occur to me to start looking for food to relieve the stress, which I definitely have done before. Instead I just reached for the tea kettle and made a cup of green tea.

Woo hoo!

The company that I work for buys lunch for the employees every Friday. It is usually pizza, garlic bread and wings. For the past 3 weeks and today will make it 4 weeks, I have NOT indulged in the Friday lunches. I take a diet pop from the order and stay at my desk and eat my home brough WW lunch. I am very proud of my good choice as it would be so easy to take 1-2 slices and join the crowd. My stomach and the scales are much better for this choice

Cheers!

http://www.3fatchicks.net/img/bar-chicks/sliderbug/lb/177.4/135/169.2/.png (http://www.3fatchicks.com/)

I just re-read this thread and I absolutely love it! I am going to have an egg for breakfast, well I guess it's almost lunch, instead of the big bowl of cereal I was going to be lazy and eat!

I got myself a gym ball.

Didn't cost me a cent. All I had to do was save up tokens from a particular brand of yoghurt that I buy.

I just have to blow the thing up now. That should work off an ounce or two!!

Hubby and I used to eat cinnamon rolls for breakfast {or snack} quite a bit before I started trying to lose weight. We'd get the 8 count Pillsbury tube and split the can. We decided we wanted to do this again this morning. So Hubby made the rolls and put four on each plate. I took two of the rolls and put them back on the baking sheet. and ate the two on my plate. Then I put the baking sheet in the freezer! I had thought of doing this many times before {having seen the frozen rolls you can buy in the bag at the groc store] but this is the first time I've ever actually DONE it. I'm quite proud of myself. Now I have breakfast for tomorrow also.

Hey, some days its the very little things!

Went grocery shopping yesterday, and had to go down the cracker aisle to get to the old-fashioned Quaker oatmeal. Darned if my old nemesis, Cheez-Its, wasn't on sale. I drooled and moved on. Still obsessing this morning with the craving for Cheez-Its, and yes, they're in the vending machine at work. I have learned to keep my wallet out in my car to buy time against this very moment. I ate my cheese stick (70 cal) at 9:15. No good - still WANT CHEEZE-ITS. Ate 25 pistachios (90 cal) - salty/crunchy, at 10. STILL not working! Finished off the small banana at 10:30, came on here and read some success stories ... and the urge has passed. Phew!

My smell of my son's McD's about killed me, but I chose to stay on program...didn't ask for a single fry, a taste, a nothing...

I decided I wanted to lose weight, more than I wanted a cheeseburger or fries