Fudging (the expression, not the food...sadly)

I've been letting my nutrition slide.

Not terribly, just a special treat here, a little extra serving there, a snack that's not on my "3 meals, 2 snacks" routine.

You know, just....fudging.

Fudging nutritionally is very easy to do. I think it probably took me 2-3 weeks before I really realized what I was doing. I got cocky.  

Thinking I totally have this nutrition routine down.
Because it's "habit", I can't fail.
Since I know what works, that's automatically what I'll do.

Wrong.

I realize now I actually have no grasp on actually how many calories I'm eating. Oh sure, it's all relative...I have way more notion of the calories I'm eating than when I started.

But that's the thing...it's all relative. What I may be doing now may be good enough to maintain my weight, but it sure isn't good enough for 2 pounds a week loss. 

Some people don't need to do that--count every calories that enters their mouth. They have a moderation control built in to their brain. Not me.

It's kind of like cats. 

My sisters' cat has this thing where she always acts like she's starving. They feed Noel twice a day, and she will hound them until she gets her food, then snarf it down like it's her last meal in a year, then meow incessantly an hour later if they even get close to the food cupboard. She would probably be like Garfield if left to her own devices.

My cat is very different. We leave Pixel's food out in this dish that has the big dispenser above it so it just refills when it's empty. It fits about half a bag of cat food in it each time. Pixel eats when she's hungry. And never too much. She's a small cat, and I almost wonder if she's eating enough!

I'm like Noel. With some foods, I don't know when to stop. Or I get the munchies... and don't know when to stop. This is why I cleaned all tempting junk food out of the house at the beginning of the summer. But now, even though I'm making "healthy" choices, I still eat too much (Think-- nuts. They're a great source of protein and healthy fat....but way high in calories).

So, here's what I'm going to do: I'm going to start recording my food again. 

Every day, everything I eat. 

I use an online food tracker to make it fairly easy. Also, I'm also going to post my calories on my blog. Not everyday, but enough to make me accountable and record it and own up to what I'm doing. Just for some more accountability. 

So....back to work! Here's to being the sensible cat! :) 

My kitten Pixel when she was a baby