It was hard to come up with a title for my thread but I need help and suggestions with something. I probably mentioned it before in other threads but I have gained all the weight back I had lost when I was working at Wholefoods a few years back. Probably close to 15 lbs now. I don't "look" fat (at least my boyfriend says I don't) but I don't like how it feels. It just more weight that I have to haul around so I don't feel lithe and sprightly like I used to.
There are so many reasons for all this: I drink a lot more alcohol than I used to, I don't move around nearly as much because I live and work in the same building, grocery shopping is harder due to the distance involved with having fresh vegetables, cooking is harder in my tiny kitchen, I often trade cooking duties and meals with my boyfriend so I have less control, plus all the traumas of the past year, which include my daughter's death and the two surgeries, plus ongoing issues with my hip and glut muscles. And I am smack dab in the middle of my menopause year.
So, after I get back from Florida (leaving tomorrow morning and staying six days) I really want to focus on getting better organized with my shopping, cooking and eating habits. I think the biggest problem I have is that my kitchen (and refrigerator) are literally steps away from where I live and work all day. I find that I do really well in the morning with good intentions of eating a decent breakfast (usually oatmeal with an apple, some walnuts and raisins), a pretty good lunch (either leftovers or a salad) but by 3 o'clock my biorhythm takes a plummet and I get really sleepy/almost cranky. If it is a slow day in the gallery I can lie down on my bed (and listen for the bell on the door to ring), but it also seems like between 3 and 5:30 is when I CRAVE eating and that is when I start randomly snarfing things. Mostly it is healthy stuff, like a Larabar, or pickles, or a WASA cracker ( and cheese, if I happen to have some. I try not to buy it on a regular basis) but once I start it is really hard to stop snacking. If it is a particularly bad day I lock the door to the shop and go up to the general store and grab some kind of snack. Lately it has been a pack of Peanut Butter M&M's...
We don't usually eat dinner until 7pm, so I am trying to figure out a way to stay away from the cupboards or refrigerator from 3 to 7pm. Since it is slowly starting to get warmer, at least when I close the shop at 5pm I can start going for a hike for an hour or so before I start dinner. But to stay away from snacking before that is the hard part.
Any suggestions? It is hard for me to eat at exact certain times because when the gallery is busy during the day it is actually hard to know when I'll be able to even go in the back and get something for lunch. In the summer I have to be well organized about it and pretty much have it made before hand so I can just grab it. Heck, sometimes it is so busy that I can't even take a bathroom break!
I should add, I would really like to get down to around 160 lbs (I'm 5'9"). So we are talking about 8 - 10lbs.