Small Victories, Small Rewards

As of this weekend, exactly one month after I started my weight loss program and new life[style], I have officially lost 17.6 pounds. I am, to say the least, ecstatic!

Since I get to celebrate this small victory over Halloween weekend, I allowed myself a small reward. Now, please know that as part of my new lifestyle (I wonder when this lifestyle will no longer be new?) I would not even consider rewarding myself with food. I mean, come on, that's what got me in trouble in the first place!

But yesterday, my husband informed me he wanted to spend Sunday watching football and that he felt like having spaghetti for dinner. Apparently, he likes spaghetti when the weather turns cooler, and fall is definitely in full swing, spaghetti we would have.

Now, you must know, spaghetti, no matter how I prepare it, is chock full of carbs. I mean CHOCK FULL. It's pasta, for pete's sake. And then there's the sauce, which normally has tons of sugar added (you'd never have guessed that, would you?).

But, just because I'm on carb-strike, doesn't mean my husband should be denied. And I refuse to cook two different meals. I figured I'd allow myself a break and just eat a controlled portion of the spaghetti. Of course, I also set out to make it as low in carbs as possible. So, off to the grocery store I went!

I found some fabulous thin spaghetti that had the absolutely lowest carb count of all the pastas on the shelves (34g of net carbs). Then I rounded up some marinara sauce that had no sugar added and was gluten free. about 6g of net carbs. I just don't think you can do much better than this when it comes to carbs and spaghetti.

I cooked up our spaghetti and had a medium sized serving (after all, I hadn't eaten much else today!) and it was delicious! I made sure to eat just enough to feel satisfied, without stuffing my face (which is SO easy to do with spaghetti).

After that, I treated myself to a cup of coffee along with a yummy Halloween cupcake. The cupcake was no doubt way off my carb chart, but again, I deserved a treat. And I only had one, even though there was a second one to be had. It's all about self control and making sure I remember these are small and infrequent rewards, and that over-indulging will tip the scales in the wrong direction.

I feel good about today's choices. No guilt. It's a great feeling. I won't make eating like this a habit, not again. I realize I am loving the weight loss way too much to slip back into old, bad habits.

Biggest takeaway? I'm way stronger than I ever gave myself credit for.

Happy belated Halloween to all! Let the holidays begin!