Oh Pudge!

Like many others, I struggle with emotional eating. Socializing = let's eat! Bored....let's eat! Happy....let's eat! Sad....let's eat! You get the idea, and I know many of you have been there. My head and my stomach are always in constant battle over physical and mental hunger. I often have a difficult time distinguishing the two, but I am learning more about my body and its signs to me. If I feel hungry I have to take a moment to think about when I last ate, what I ate, have I not eaten enough, not gotten enough protein, etc. Then I will decide if I need more fuel. I'm doing my best to turn my love of food into a love of the food that my body needs to run efficiently. For the most part I will say I've done pretty darn good over the past year. However, this week I've had a very difficult time with the emotional aspect of eating. Stress is apparently the biggest trigger for me. I've had a challenging couple days and have been a little stressed, sad, angry, etc. In return for those feelings I had to constantly tell myself I didn't need to go diving head first into a big chocolate cake (not a slice, a whole cake!). My head wanted the comfort of the taste and feeling of fullness and pushing the emotions way deep down. I can't do it. I won't do it. I know how I would feel afterwards and it's not a good feeling. .

Yesterday was tough. I managed to hold off the major desire to binge by biking to the gym, lifting weights for an hour and biking home. Last night I treated myself to a Skinny Cow ice cream bar! Major yummy-ness for about 80 calories.

Today the desire was still in full force. I would not, could not let the evil part of my inner self win this battle. I ate smart all day, hit the gym for about an hour. Then after the boys were asleep I decided that I would make a reasonable treat for myself. I tested out the No Pudge Brownies I picked up a couple weeks ago. I especially loved that the box had instructions for single servings. No need to make the entire batch and be tempted by it. Just one single serving of brownie goodness. It's a fat free brownie mix combined with a lil bit of fat free yogurt. Because I had calories to spare today I added 1/2T of Crunchy Peanut Butter. All this in the microwave for a minute and I had a small, reasonable and delicious treat to satisfy my emotional need for a little bit of comfort without doing any damage!!! The treat was right at 200 calories and the only fat (3g) came from the P'nut Butter. I actually came in a little under on my calories today.

The hubby even tasted it (oh...I saved a few calories there) and gave it the stamp of approval. I'll convert that man yet!!!

I feel good, I enjoyed my little treat and now I'm done with it. There is no cake or pan of brownies calling my name. I think this little box of No Pudge will be my emergency friend. You know a girl still needs her chocolate now and then!?!?! Just in moderation!