Bad Habits Creep In

I know that I mentioned in a previous post about the book The Power of Habit. I have been re-reading it slowly and enjoying it. (I read fast and sometimes - especially on nonfiction, a second read reinforces the concepts)  I suggest that you read it.  It is fascinating for the stories that he uses to illustrate his points but also for the idea of how to break or make a habit.  I have been trying to implement his theories in my quest to change my eating and exercise habits. 

Some habits are hard to break.  Silent Sam and I went away for the weekend.  I thought that instead of going to the restaurant Friday night that we would have some wine and snacks in our room. This is one of our habits that we have been trying to break or at least improve.  In our previous life, on Friday nights we would sit in the living room, have a drink or two, and have snacks for dinner.  Oh and it was NEVER veggies as snacks.  So on our way out of town we stopped at the grocery store and picked up some things.  Somewhere between leaving home and getting into the store, I forgot that I meant to get veggies for snacks.  I don't know what happened.  Old habits kicked in - I went straight for the cracker and chips aisle.  Also, I did not take any bowls with us - so that we wouldn't eat straight out of the box. I needed to have given this more thought.  As a result, we had a bottle of wine and a box of crackers and most of a bag of Pirates Booty and part of a bag of pretzel chips.  Could it have been worse?  (Yes, it could have been a variety of potato chips and M & Ms...) If I had only given it more thought, I would have picked up veggies, brought bowls, and saved a lot of calories. 

I am not weighing in this morning....

It is hard to stop working on auto-pilot and move to intentional eating.  It takes work to plan for meals.  While we have been doing our Saturday morning meal planning/grocery shopping list every week now for 4 months, I still hate sitting down to do it.  I am trying to make one new thing a week but that is not always working out.  Life does not always seem to fit into my meal planning schedule. (Hard to believe, huh?)  I have been scheduled to make "Baked Chicken Parmesan" for the last 3 weeks.  Somehow on the day that I am supposed to make it, something happens and that is not what we have for dinner.  It is on the schedule for tonight - we'll see....

Thanks for reading....