Bad choices day

Well, I’m 51 days into my journey and I’ve had my first really bad choices day. Went 285 calories over my daily limit. I know, not the end of the world. But I made bad choices for mid-day snack and bad choices for dinner. I could have easily made better choices and stayed within my calorie limit for the day.

And a shame, too. Because I made good choices for lunch. I had brought my lunch (lettuce, tuna salad, carrots), but there was a buffet lunch provided at school. I skipped past the bad choices there, and made myself a lovely yogurt parfait: strawberry yogurt, fresh fruit, and a small amount of granola. More calories than I planned for lunch, but a healthy choice.

I had planned to have two ounces of aged English cheddar cheese for my afternoon snack. But that was when I had planned to have my light-calorie lunch. Once I’d made that lunch change, I should have shifted plans and skipped the cheese. It would have been easy to change, since I had my uneaten lunch. I could have easily substituted the carrots from lunch. That would have put me “even”, calorie-wise, for my plans for the day. And considering I really wasn’t very hungry at snack time, the carrots would have easily satisfied me.

Strike one for the day.

Tuesday is Trivia Night at Wings and Things. I usually plan ahead to have one of my favorite bar food, leaving plenty of leeway calories. Tonight I had planned on having chicken wings. But, I was up in terms of calories from lunch and up from y midday snack. Did I alter my plans and have a lesser calorie, but equally enjoyable, bar item? No, of course not. I had the wings. Did I forego the blue cheese dressing (which would have kept me within the calories of the day)? Of course not.

And here’s my take away for the day. Lesson learned: don’t be married to my “plan” for the day. If I make one change, then I have to re-evaluate the entire day BEFORE I eat anything further. Regardless of my planning, I still have to be flexible. Next time, I need to make smart choices ALL day.

Tomorrow is another day. Shake it off and continue on.