What is "easy" about staying this way?

"It's more stressful to continue being fat than to stop overeating."

This is a tip from the 100 Smartest Diet Tips Ever that Debu-chan so kindly shared with me. It really resonated with me. It's easy to be thoughtless about what you're eating. Meal time (or snack time) rolls around and I'm sure like many others, I go for what's already made or what takes a few seconds to make, and this is typically nothing that's got any nutritional value other than inches added to waistline. Most of my food has 3 ingredients: pasta, water to cook it, and some kind of seasoning packet. I consider anything with added milk or margarine or seasoning like Parmesan cheese to be "gourmet."

Dieting with a toddler running around is difficult. There is a constant supply of food, and most of it has nothing to do with food that is good for you. He usually eats 2 or 3 bites and then he is done. Most of the food isn't worth saving, and I hate to throw it away. Take 3-4 bites of his food at each meal (typically after I'm done eating my meal) and multiply that times 365 days a year and that makes a lot of extra food.

I don't have much more earth shattering things to share at this point. I'm starting the day off with raisin bran and diet Mt. Dew and hoping to stay on track. I'm going to rededicate myself to trying to stay on track all day rather than being careless most of the day and then stressing about limiting my nighttime eating to an unreasonably small amount. I think keeping track of my points throughout the day is helping me to be more mindful about my consumption as well.

Thirty-two of my points last week were regular Mt. Dew. If I hadn't had any of those I would have been under 200 points for the week. Just in the past two days I've already had sixteen points in regular soda. I need to get it under control. I'm working on it. I want to get a little better handle on what I'm eating and when. Then I intend to add some kind of exercise. I want to keep it mostly outdoor exercise because I've found that when I exercise indoors I tend to want to stop every 5-10 minutes and think about dying.

And I definitely want to thank those of you who have been commenting for your suggestions and support. Also, you lurkers, I know you're out there. Thank you lurkers for pointing and laughing. It's more incentive to keep going.