I get half rice, black beans, barbacoa, and double the green salsa. Under 500 calories and it really is a lot of food. It's my emergency meal for when I get stuck out in the evening and didn't know I needed to pack an extra meal.

Calorie counting has SO many benefits and I think it surfaced for you in this instance.

Once we start counting our calories, we become more aware and we become pickier and choosier. Eating anything without giving it thought will no longer suffice. Now that we've only got a certain limited amount of calories, a calorie budget that is, we have to weigh and decide if so and so is really worth spending the cals. It's a wonderful thing. You instantly start making wiser choices. And you did. You did!

For me it's much easier to pass up on a certain high calorie food item as long as I know I've got something else delicious and yummy to eat though calorie friendly. This does take a while till you FIND those other foods. And again, that's what calorie counting forces you to do. Find them, seek them out and even create them. What a wonderful learning experience this journey is.

Keep up the great work. I look forward to reading many more of your upcoming happy posts.

very true rockinrobin. i never used to do this. i would just eat it. now before i eat anything i make sure its within my calorie budget. im also becoming very good with eating only one of something. like pizza. if i cant avoid it which i can i would just have 1 piece. before i would eat like half the pizza.