The good, the bad, and the ugly of recent foodie encounters

It's been a while since I posted - given that little Thanksgiving thing last week, ya know - so I thought I should write up a little post tonight.

Lately, I've had mixed emotions about eating, dieting, cooking. It's a mix of being inspired to cook non-healthy things for the nurturing fun of it, but then also wanting more than ever to drop a couple of the pounds that I've gained back since moving to Atlanta, and re-joined the real world. ("Real World" meaning a life that is shared with other people - a boyfriend I see and cook for on the weekends, cooking for fun, and actually going out to eat with friends - rather than sticking to myself, working out and barely eating.)

I'm still not sure I've figured out the right balance or the right routine to make sure I don't put on weight. Maybe it's just that I am super concerned since it's the holidays and I am coming off of a week where I indulged, but it's been weighing (no pun intended) on my mind lately.

But if there's one thing I've been doing right, it's this:


My trusty, HUGE tupperware full of raw veggies and fat-free T. Marzetti's ranch veggie dip. It's so filling, and I think pretty tasty. If there's one thing I need to keep doing, it's filling myself up on stuff like this.

If there's another thing I've been doing right, it's this:

Enjoying things like fresh flowers, instead of food-things. Oh, and generally enjoying life and other people.

What I need to do more of:

• Work out. This means stop wasting time in the evenings. Which probably also means working late, and then coming home and wasting time on the computer. If I can't control the working late part, I can't keep making excuses for letting it affect the routines I know are good for me.
  

• Stay focused. You see, it's the eating, stupid: during a dinner party, at work when someone brings in a baked good, at home when I get a recipe I want to try that I know I'll over-indulge in. Regardless, it all starts with just NOT eating it (or cooking it) in the first place. Not sure if that's something I'll ever truly master, but I can try.
  

In the meantime, I should probably just work out more. Which means I should go to bed, so I will wake up in the morning and get on the trusty elliptical machine.

Good night!