Habits: the good, the bad, and the ugly....

Many of you can probably relate to how hard it is to break bad habits (and create new ones).  I read a study somewhere sometime (no, I'm not going to cite to it) that said you need to do something consistently for 21 days in order to form a new habit. That doesn't sound like a long time, but think about it this way:  It takes the equivalent of three weeks worth of PERFECT and CONSISTENT days to form a new habit. I don't know about you, but that task seems daunting.

This isn't to say that a person can't form form a new habit over a longer period of time. Personally it takes me a long time to form a new habit and even longer to break an old one. However, if there is one thing I've learned so far over this journey, it is that  really need to find ways to get rid of old unhealthy habits and create new healthier ones.

My Healthy Habits
I have been successful in changing my habits in several ways: I workout 4-5 days a week usually at 5:30 in the morning, which, if you ask me, needs to be habitual if you intend to keep that kind of schedule going; I eat a healthy breakfast every morning; I tend to eat mostly healthy meals throughout my week; I'm able to push myself to attain a goal; etc...

However, this past weekend, I found myself falling back into old habits that I need to break if I truly am going to be successful (and keep this weight off). I know that myself alone is to blame, but I also would like to blame the Superbowl (even though I know my argument here is weak).....

I was the host of a Superbowl party, and it was a fat-man's paradise!!! The food that we had included (thanks to all of my awesome friends): pizza, chicken wings, pigs in a blanket (I made a healthy version of these), spinach artichoke dip, buffalo chicken dip, chili, chips, salsa, guacamole, cheese, crackers, pepperoni, sausage meatballs stuffed with mozzarella cheese, fruit salsa with graham crackers, cookies, and homemade hostess cupcakes (the chocolate kind with frosting in the middle).  Of course, we can forget the tremendous amounts of beer, malt beverages, and wine that was there for consumption as well.

Needless to say being surrounded by so much food and drink, I binged more than I have in over a month. I couldn't stop myself...I mean, it would be RUDE as a host for me to not try everything, right?!  WRONG!  I regret the decisions I made this weekend, and I realized after the fact that this is one habit I need to change. It took me four days to get back to (and slightly below) my weigh-in weight from last week...

One thing realized: I need to find a way to be in social situations involving food and NOT overindulge. This isn't to say that I can't enjoy the food, but I need to make a new habit where I limit what I eat and have boundaries when placed in these situations. I know they will come up again, and I need to be ready next time!

Friend or Foe: Chicken Wings

This past weekend I had temptations galore with one of my most favorite foods ever......

CHICKEN WINGS.  As I describe my experience below, you will see how I came up with my new type of food blog:  Friend or Foe.  In these blogs (more to come in the future), I will be judging certain foods that I like to eat (or that I am tempted by) and will decide whether or not they can be a friend of mine, or whether I should stay away.....

Some of you may know that I live in Buffalo, the HOME of the original Buffalo Wing.  Restaurants all over the city pride themselves on having the best wings around. The two "go-to" restaurants in the area are: (1) The Anchor Bar, which is where the original buffalo wings was invented (and yes, the original wing sauce is made with Frank's Red Hot, my favorite hot sauce); and (2) Duffs (why they don't have an American website, I don't know).

This past weekend I had some friends in town that will only go to Duffs for dinner about 99% of the time they come to Buffalo. I sometimes feel like they come to Buffalo more so to go to Duffs over anything else (yes, they're wings are that good....) Of course, they invited me to join them, but immediately I began to feel guilty. I hadn't even EATEN a wing yet, but I could already see where my weekend was heading: 12 wings later combined with  a few pints of beer meant that tracking for the weekend was going out the window. I really had to think to myself: is it worth it? If I was already not feeling good days before I put a chicken wing in my mouth, why the hell would I go eat the thing that made my stomach turn by just thinking about it?

I thought I would look up the awesome nutrition that chicken wings would provide me to help with my decision....

Not surprisingly, Duffs and the Anchor Bar do not provide nutritional information on their chicken wings. I found the next closest thing that I could: 12 chicken wings from Buffalo Wild Wings (a chain restaurant whose sauce selection is decent, but the wings aren't nearly as good).  The nutritional info is as follows:

Serving: 12 wings
Calories: 600 (calories from fat: 360)
Fat: 40 g (Saturated Fat: 10 g; Trans Fat: 2 g)
Sodium: 3500 mg (1.5 days worth of sodium)
Fiber: 0 (NONE, ZERO, ZILCH)
Protein: 56 g (a chicken wing's "redeeming" quality?)

Total WW Points: 37.5 points (this is not only more points I get in one day, but it also is over the extra 35 weekly point allowance)......

I know you may be thinking I'm crazy because of the epic battle going through my mind. It really was a struggle for me! I truly do love chicken wings, but I know that they are NOT going to get me to my goal. I needed to make a decision: do I go eat the wings or not?  I decided against it! I really do want to get to my goal this year. Instead, I made the decision that I would eat dinner at home, and would meet my friends at Duffs afterwards for a drink. I had a cup of my own homemade chili and a pita pizza (total points for dinner: 7).

SUCCESS! Eating beforehand got rid of ANY temptations I had when I got to the restaurant, and I was able to enjoy a pint of Duffs homemade Ale (only 4 points).  My total points for dinner and the beer = 11. That is 26.5 less points than I would have eaten (not including any beer I drank that night) if I had gotten the chicken wings.....

I'm proud of my decision this weekend! I know it is going to be hard and unrealistic to "give up" chicken wings forever.  However, at this point in time, I am in the zone and am ready to get to my goal so it was a (somewhat) easy decision to make. I am blogging about this now so the next time I think about going to get chicken wings I can come back to this blog and remind myself that they really are not my friend.....

Chicken Wings: Friend or Foe?

Answer: FOE!