Slippery Slope?

I've been eating really well, and sticking mostly to the mindful eating and picture taking of most food. Lots of vegetables, and really no sweets. But for some reason, Friday I really really wanted my bed time snack. I went for a single dark chocolate mint Dove square. I know a single piece of chocolate is not going to make a material difference, but will it make enough of a psychological difference to start me down the "what the hell" path?  Or, is going ahead and having this thing keeping me from feeling deprived, and thus keeping me from an eating rebound?

I know that mindful is what I need to be, whatever the context around this. Stay tuned for how this develops.

Magic cup of coffee

Last night, when I stepped through my neighbor's front door, I was consumed by the smell of coffee. "What can I get you?" Sergio asked, "I'm having wine, and we've got tea and coffee and water".

"I'll have some coffee, please". "Are you sure? It's not decaf."  "Then just a small cup."

It was the best cup of coffee I've had in a long time, deep dark and rich. I only drank half a cup, because I was afraid of the caffeine. I could practically chew it.

But as it turns out, it gave me more than usual late evening energy, to walk the dog, do some chores, and go to bed only half an hour later than usual. According to my Fitbit, I dropped into a deep sleep immediately, and the rest of the night was perfectly normal.

I have to get I invited back and learn her secret!

Work Prom

In Washington, often an interest group will throw a gala event at about this time of year, bringing together government and industry to put on their best duds and give someone a prize. My industry is no exception. It has become customary to refer to these events as "the prom" - just this week, NPR did a thing on the "tax prom".

So I'm going to the prom!  I will be able to go with a colleague whose wife hates these events, which also relieves me from getting a date. This is full-up black tie, and so I need a dress and associated bling. I last went to this nearly a decade ago, so I did some snooping on facebook and yes, folks still go for the glamour. They even have a red carpet photo op spot (though not so many people do this).  In the few pix from the last few years, dresses were long, short, or in between, and overwhelmingly black. If not black, red, and a very few royal blues. Solid colors all, in the photos I saw.

When I decided to go, I thought I had the perfect dress hanging in the back of my closet. Sadly, when I went to try it on, it was just the tiniest bit too tight in my fattest part, my hips. I haven't given up on it yet - super-squeezing shapewear is winging its way to me. Can I wear it, and will it be sufficiently comfortable?  It really is perfect: black velvet, with rivers of shorn pile running vertically in curves. In the rivers, the burgundy lining shows, giving it a reddish shimmer. Knee length, sleeveless sheath.

I have a backup dress, not nearly as glamorous. It is stretchy polyester, patterned blues, and way too long. Except the for the length, it looks really good on me, ruched to show off my best feature, an actual waist. It's not my first choice for this event, but it'll do if the length is right. And if the length is right, I might wear it more often at other events of lesser glam. So it is being shortened.

If I have learned one thing from Tom and Lorenzo, it's that the accessories can make the outfit. I have a cut velvet shawl, and a small black beaded clutch purse, which will work for either dress. But shoes? Jewelry?

I used to dutifully change my shoes every day at the office after riding the metro in, until finally I decided this was nuts. I should wear shoes I can walk in, all day, every day. I kept a pair of heels in the office, in case I ever got a chance to meet the President.  Then I did meet the President, and didn't wear the heels.  So out to the trash every pair of heels went. And it was President (Bill) Clinton, so it was a while ago!  Mostly I wear trousers to work, and with them oxfords, or lately ankle boots. With dresses, it's mostly mary janes or sandals in the summer, as ballets don't work well with my bunion.

But I went out with my girl today, and got a pair of kitten heels, in black suede.  I don't know how long I'll be able to stand them - I'm going to practice around the house!  And sheer black hose.

We also got make-up - something else I gave up around the turn of the century. Another thing I need to practice. Mascara, eye liner, base, and lipstick. Maybe this is too much.

So the big dress decision will be Wednesday night. The event is Friday, and I'll probably have to change at work and go there directly, so really minimal primping with makeup and hair. Jewelry is still in progress, and will get its own post.

More food pix

I'm continuing to struggle to take a picture of all of the food I eat.  It continues to challenge me. A few days this week, I was perfect. One day, I totally missed each meal.  This despite thinking while cooking, "gonna pause and take a picture, gonna pause and take a picture".

Why am I bothering? Because I want the pause.  This is part of mindfulness. I may change my internal dialogue to "Pause and breathe three times. Now a picture. Now eat."  Unconscious eating has been an issue for me, especially in the evening when paying attention is hard because I'm tired.

Lunch at work

I am subbing in some very crude drawings if I forgot to take a picture. Doing that makes a record, but it doesn't serve the pause before eating mindfulness goal.

My latest photos are not just the food, but the setting, to show more context where I'm eating.

Remember, all the photos, bundled into a day at a time, are on the tumblr here (and linked at right as Every Bite).

Here are a couple of this week's pix.

The good news is this week was essentially all food prepared at home. Lunch is my meat, probably my salad dressing, often my special add-ins (olives, parmesan crackers, crispy onions...) and lettuce and spinach from the cafeteria.  Buying their greens means a much small container to transport, and I find greens not keeping in my fridge for long.

I continue to not do cooking during the week, but the past two weeks I've focused my weekends on cooking and managed not to waste a lot of food.

Food Pix

Just a quick note - I'm mulling many posts, but haven't taken the time to sit and write. But weight is up, health not so good, mindfulness not so much, and I decided the one thing I can do is track my food. But only by taking a picture. I'm trying to take the picture of very single thing I eat - and boy, is that not so easy to remember to do.

I spent a little bit of time looking at apps designed for meal pictures, and thought about instagram, but I ended up going with a tumblr. Easy to do on my phone - I even created it in the first place on my phone, and I'll bundle a day's worth of eating into a single post. So my tumblr, Every Bite, is at the link. I will also add it to the blog list on the right side of the blog.

Eating While Travelling

Sometimes travelling, much as I love it, trips me up for eating. I get hungry, I don't plan, I don't scout places, I end up making bad choices. Not just things that are bad for me, but unsatisfying wrong ideas because I just want to settle. In particular, unless I pick up grab-and-go pre-made the day before salads at the airport, it seems it's hard to get good vegetables when travelling. I recently went on a trip to Seattle for a few days, and actually some things worked out well.

The interminably long flight on Alaska Airlines had food for sale, and I went for a hot egg scramble that had vegetables and potatoes and was actually quite good. But I got dehydrated - I didn't bring water and they didn't come around with it often enough, and that kind of put me off.

The big learning for me from this trip is to go ahead and bring along a little bit of chocolate to have in my room for a bed time snack. I am often feeling the need for a sweet snack in the evening. But I have also had aspirations of eating really well on the road, and therefore haven't planned to indulge this craving. I have seen myself get obsessed and go on a bakery hunt or ice cream search through a strange city at night to scratch this itch. This time, instead, I brought along some Dove squares in my suitcase, and it seemed to do the trick. I was able to avert all thoughts of spontaneous indulgence by remembering I had something for later.  This doesn't always work, and I don't always need it to work (life is too short to never change your mind) but this time it was fine.

I had time to scout the Pike's Place market and grab a nice bowl of chowder. The place is both a working farmer's / fisherman's market and a tourist mecca, so in between the fresh and raw ingredients are bakeries and chocolatiers. Nothing that looked out of the ordinary to me (and no special ice cream, which would have probably have pushed me over the edge).  I ended up at a very nice and hugely expensive Thai restaurant for dinner with colleagues, and it was fabulous, but I should have skipped the less than spectacular cocktail. 

I knew I'd be up very early due to jet lag, so I made a plan before bed for a nice breakfast. I found a 24-hour place - not a working person's breakfast cafe, more of an after-hours late night bar - and had a magnificent frittatta with broccoli, cauliflower, and zucchini and cheese. It was too much food, I left a big chunk, but it set me up for the day.  For lunch, I found a place with hawaiian tacos - they made a distinctive slaw with an asian inspired peanut sauce, and I had ginger chicken with it. Fabulous, and just right, plenty more chewy vegetables.

Dinner again with colleagues was at my suggestion, an Italian restaurant near the hotel. I had hoped for the bar and happy hour small plates, but we ended up in the restaurant. So a terrific pasta dish it was, no complaints, and since I felt responsible it was great everyone else was happy as well.

Breakfast at the airport was an issue - if at the mercy of airport food, hard to find a breakfast that is not carb-heavy. But I figured better to eat eggs on a bagel than just a bagel.  And I had plenty of time to buy my own big bottle of water for the return, somewhat quicker (thank you, jet stream!) flight. Again, food for sale - I got a "tapas" box. All shelf-stable food, chips, hummus, olives, dried fruit, almonds. It was adequate given the limitations. It suited me more than the cheese plate, though that also looked good.

So no chance at weight loss on a trip like this, but it was not a disaster food-wise. In fact, it was tasty without being reckless.

My Looks

Let's face it, I care what I look like. All this talk about health, and doing stuff, and feeling good, is true, but I want to look good.  Because I like data, and I try to be objective, I have been doing a fair number of selfies, and looking at them for clues how to look better. Here is what I look (and looked) like this year:

I have had a hard time getting this video to play, so here is a link as well.

My analysis:  posture and smiling are more important than what I'm wearing, except for when I dressed up for a cold long scooter trip and ended up looking like a cross between the Michelin Man and an astronaut - nothing could save that look!

Just FYI, my niece uses this app, "1 Second Everyday" with videos of her kids - really fun! I may try to remember to do this during my next vacation as well.  It can also be used with still pictures, which is mostly what this is. Since I took all these pictures on my phone, and haven't deleted them yet, I was able to put this together during a too-long wait in a doctor's office this week.

How vain of me is it that not only do I have a big mirror in my bedroom, but I put in a new light so I can take these pictures better?