The quest to de-snug my shorts has not had the most successful of beginnings these past couple days. One could even say it has been nothing short of an epic fail.
But I’m avoiding the Negative Nancy syndrome and trying to embrace a mentality of positivity and “every day is a new day.” Even these “epic fail” days have their good moments and mini lessons to be learned.
For example:
Ordering a tuna salad plate for lunch.
Common nutritional knowledge says that tuna salad is not one of the most waist-friendly meals you could choose (snug shorts say what?). But in my defense, the tuna pile looked small and non-threatening in the picture.
Lesson: Don’t trust the picture.
Positive: Got the olive oil dressing on the side. Definitely not even needed. The tuna mountain was the dressing.
Positive #2: It tasted good!
Positive #3: There was enough tuna for TWO lunches. Economical!
BONUS Positive: They forgot to give me the side of panini bread. I had half a mind to ask for it (Hey, it’s supposed to be there!) but secretly my shorts were pretty relieved with that accidental omission (The tuna was plenty filling).
Continuing along with the so-called “epic failures” of the last couple days, our fridge and cupboards are looking pretty bare, leading me to do some major digging.
I accidentally dug up this gem – Yakisoba Four Cheese Flavour instant noodles.
Common nutritional knowledge says, “Put it down and step far, far away.”
Kristie says, “Hmm…this has been hiding in here for a while. No one is ever going to eat it. I better make sure it doesn’t feel neglected.”
I’m pretty sure it would have been just fine without me. Actually, it probably would have been even better in the trash. But alas, I tried some over spinach with Frank’s and then put the rest away.
Lesson: Four cheeses in powder form taste like plastic. Cheesy salty plastic.
Positive: I satisfied the curiousity that has gotten peaked every time I’ve seen that darn package sitting in the cupboard and now I’ll never have to be tempted by it again.
While noting the short food supply of my kitchen, the baking bug kicked in. Now my shorts were getting pretty irritated with me.
Banana Bread “light” style – made with stevia baking blend among other “healthier” (aka lower fat) ingredients.
Lesson: I’ve finally come to terms with the fact that faux sugar baking blends just can’t replace the real thing in baking classics. And banana bread should never be cheapened with faux sugar. It doesn’t work.
Positive: I won’t be inhaling this loaf all by myself in the next three days.
Among my kitchen escapades, I did manage to whip up a couple more palatable things, such as this peanut buttery chickpea dip: 1/2 cup chickpeas, 1/4 cup applesauce, 2 T sugar free maple syrup, 1 T peanut flour, splash almond milk.
I didn’t really expect much out of this but it was Good.
Lesson: Chickpeas are perfect. Always.
And when I discovered a jar of peanut butter that was on its way down to empty… well clearly I had to make flourless peanut butter cookies out of the remainders (my shorts continued to be very upset with me at this point).
Positive: Umm… I managed to walk away without eating the whole batch?
So you see, I may not have started out with the spryest of feet in my quest to hunker down on my snacking habits and questionable food choices (there were several more than pictured), but there are positives that can be dug up in any situation, and there’s always the next day, the next hour, and even the next moment to do it better.
And at the end of the day, when you feel like you’ve hit your peak of “epic failures”, hunker down, throw in some Jillian Michaels’s No More Trouble Zones and sweat it out until your arms turn to jelly. Then wind down and enjoy a hot and bubbly evening bath to wash away your sweat and troubles (This was my first in months. Might need to become a routine ritual).
Think about a negative or annoying moment that you had today. Got it?
Okay now twist it and find something positive about it. Just for fun. You’ll suddenly and magically feel better about it, I promise.
