I am a BAD BLOGGER!

I have not posted in over a week. We've been very busy here - I know it's not an excuse but, it is what it is. At least I wasn't too busy to diet.

Donna came to visit last week. It's especially hard to stay on program when you have company that you want to be able to show a good time. There were some very bad food moments, as Chris mentioned, but also some very good moments.

There was lots of walking - we walked around Marietta square to do some window shopping, saw the King Tut exhibit, and the Terracotta Army of China's First Emperor along with several other exhibits at the art museum. Chris was supposed to go with us to see the Terracotta Army but was so tired from all the walking at King Tut that he decided to stay home.

We also did quite a bit of lunching out - the Tea Room, brunch at the art museum, Applebee's on the way to the airport. But I managed to be good and show some self control - I had a turkey sandwich on cranberry walnut bread with a VERY tiny bit of sweet potato salad (yum) at the tea room; half of a caesar salad and 1.25 of 3 pumpkin pancakes that were served with a touch of maple syrup (seriously, probably a tablespoon - I dipped each bite into the cup just to get a taste) at brunch; onion soup and .75 of the tortilla chicken melt from the Weight Watchers menu at Applebees.

It is incredibly difficult to eat out when you're trying to lose weight. There is so much temptation - it would be very easy to order that burger and fries or eat that whole plate of pancakes soaked in maple syrup. We are all learning to make better decisions for ourselves - we order that low cal meal without the mayo or we have fruit and veggies as a snack. We are also learning when to say no. There's no need to eat until we're uncomfortably stuffed - we CAN be totally satisfied with the healthy options.

We should all take a few minutes to think about and comment or post about what healthy decisions we will make during this holiday season so that we don't lose any progress we've made. I'd like to hear all of your ideas so that we can help each other.

What I will do is:

• be aware of exactly what and how much I am eating and how many calories are in it


• take the dog for a walk to burn off some of those extra holiday calories


• tell myself "No" when I have had enough