Two-For-One

Thanks right, two posts in one day. I promise not to write too often.

I wanted to speak about my Truvia experience this morning. Lynn, the woman gracious enough to put me up for an entire semester, doesn't use artificial sweeteners so I went to pick up Splenda the other day for my coffee. I decided to try Truvia, an all natural sweetener that has been advertised a lot lately. To be honest, I think it had a funny aftertaste, which I don't experience with Splenda, but I'm going to give it another chance in case I was just off this morning. Here's the major point, ever since late morning, I have had noticeable stomach discomfort. I think it's gas. Don't be gross! It's all internal. It feels lots of movement in my abdomen and bubbles constantly ALL DAY. I think it was the Truvia because the only other time I felt like this was when I had sugar free muffins loaded with sugar alcohols. Here's the weird part: Truvia claims that it is actually gentler on the stomach... Who knows, but I'm definitely not comfortable.

So, I'm closing out another day drastically under on my points. I reached 16.5 out of the 27 I am allotted.  Not good. I talked with Lynn, and she advised that I aim to eat about 70% of my daily points before dinner (about 18 points I think we calculated). I'm not even reaching 18 points in a normal day! She really had a lot of great tips for me: eat a big breakfast, use peanut butter (rich in protein and points), eat cheese and do it early in the day, eat often (about every three hours), etc. She too assures me that I will lose more weight by eating more. I'm still skeptical, but willing to try.  Now I just need to go out and buy more snacks. For dinner, I had a 1/2 serving of leftover soup and my personal favorite, homemade vegetarian taco salad nachos! I seriously could eat it EVERY DAY. I heat fat-free spicy refried beans, add a bed of lettuce (chopped small), pico de gallo (like fresh salsa), a 100 calorie pack of guacamole (my favorite part), and fat-free sour cream. Then, I eat it all with Utz Baked Tortilla Chips (not my favorite but they do the job with much less calories). YUM! So filling and so tasty.  

Tomorrow I hope to start getting on a set exercise routine. I am excited to get back to weights! It sounds crazy, but because my arms need so much work, I see results there so fast, which I love. I have so much to accomplish in the next 254 days . I thought about it this evening: I'm looking at about a 20 pound weight loss to get into this dress... wish me luck!