This is a lifestyle, not just a diet.

I know you'll be shocked to hear that I've been having frequent arguments with my stomach. When I try really hard to eat appropriately, I find myself STARVING when I get home from work. This was really bugging me cause I feel like I'm throwing everything out the window at 6 while I'm attempting to make a healthy dinner. So last week, I thought about it (over chipotle, chick-fil-a and other not so healthy food choices) and realized that there are probably two things I'm not getting enough of during the day that forces my carb cravings to rear their ugly heads after work -- fat and protein.

You see, while I love a good piece of steak or a nice chicken meal, I can easily go most of the day without meat. Some of this comes from the Lean Cuisine eating -- a lot of the meals I like lack meat -- and some is just habit. I don't like breakfast meats (sausage, bacon and the like) and tend to fall into habitual eating, especially for breakfast. And since this wasn't including meats (cheese, yes, cause I LOVE cheese), I just haven't been eating them. Also, after my dad had open heart surgery when I was in middle school, we started to buy low-fat EVERYTHING! And that's how I learned to shop and cook. So I immediately gravitate towards low-fat options, without acknowledging that some fat is OK.

I track my eating at SparkPeople, which also breaks out carbs, protein and fat in addition to calories. And I noticed that I tend to be very low in protein and fat, so this week, I'm going to test this theory...I bought laughing cow cheese, hummus and some low-fat salami and turkey at the store yesterday. Today, I've got laughing cow and salami as my afternoon snack, so we'll see if the proteinified snack keeps me from the crackers when I got home to my crock pot of pork.

And for a real weight update, my pants are getting a little tight, so I think the eating is catching up with me. I've really been cutting back on the scale, so I'll weigh tomorrow and try to make Tuesday weigh-in day from here on out. I'll admit, I've been creeping up on the scale, so I need to get this under control.