I am doing some serious butt kicking and eye opening today.

I haven't lost any weight in the past week and I pretty much know exactly why. I have sort of been flouting this philosophy of "I work hard at the gym/cycling/running/dancing/soccer/etc so I don't have to worry so much about what I eat" - where I will put myself to work on the physical exercise side but am reckless with my mouth. This false sense of "magic" taking care of the weight loss has GOT TO GO!

I have to say I am really proud of myself for all the exercise I have been doing. I put up a calendar above my desk with an outline of all the activity I want to do every day... Which days I weight train, which days I run, which days I play soccer, etc... and then I check off the day when I complete the goal or put an "x" when I don't complete my goal. I love this accountability and although I do have 4 "x's" - I have 12 checks! It's amazing accountability!

So I feel like I need to do something similar for food.

As for that... I am reducing my calorie target to 1200. When I lost weight before, I was operating off a calorie budget of 1200 so I think I need to go back to that. I am sometimes too generous with my calorie counting and I feel that by having 100 less calories to "fudge" with, I will get closer to being able to drop pounds.

And then looking at what I am eating.... oi do I have some bad habits! Here they are... all TEN of them...

1) I eat a lot of tortilla chips (swap 2 tortillas and I will feel more full and save half the calories)
2) I add a lot of "extras" (do I really taste the extras I add to things like homemade nachos or tacos?)
2) PORTION CONTROL (a skiff of PB will do... I don't need a whole tablespoon!)
3) My sweet tooth is killing my mojo (I have been eating a lot of baked goods, I need to stop baking and having baked goods at home!)
4) I drink too much! (for whatever reason I seem to be having a glass of wine here, a bloody mary there, whenever I am in social situations)
5) I drink too many of my calories (I will have a glass of almond milk or juice instead of water)
6) I have really big lunches (this wouldn't be such a problem if I didn't eat another big meal again later)
7) My breakfast calories have been really high (my blender is busted so I have been eating baked goods in the morning)
8) I underestimate my calorie intake by saying to myself "nah, that couldn't have been 200 calories" and instead mark it as 100.
9) Mindless eating - I have been picking at food in my fridge when I am not hungry or eating out of boredom
10) BINGEING. I have caught myself TWICE in the last two weeks in the middle of mini-binges and I am super disappointed in this.

So here are some things I am going to change (and in some cases have already started to change)

1) no buying tortilla chips (for a while) after the bag at home is gone (and I will be serving that for friends tonight)
2) serve myself less and remind myself that I am NOT entitled to more - and that it only hurts me, and doesn't "reward" me
3) Banish sweets from my house and buy more fruit
4) I know I said this already, but I need to cut the booze out. I went out on Saturday without having a drink which was a great reminder that I CAN do it and still have fun
5) Lemonade with Stevia is the go-to for my juice cravings! Because the water comes out of my tap at home warm, I want to keep a jug of cold water in the fridge so I am more likely to go for water
6) Cut down the quantity at lunch - go for bigger salads with a side of carbs and protein instead of the reverse
7) Looking forward to getting my blender back to start having smoothies again
8) Be more realistic with my calorie counting
9) Ask myself if I am hungry before I open my fridge
10) Cutting out the bingeing may take some additional emotional work but it's a great step to acknowledge what I am doing... next is to figure out WHY.

Alright... now I am empowered with changes to make... now I am going to go MAKE EM!