Stupid Tax and Portion Challenge

Dave Ramesy has a name for when we do something that ultimately costs us more than it is worth, a Stupid Tax. For example, when I cashed in my retirement after teaching for 4 years to pay off my credit cards only to turn around and not only charge them back up and have to do debt consolidation, but also pay Uncle Sam a hefty tax on the retirement. Turns out the debt consolidation was a stupid tax too. They tell you that it could hurt your credit, but they don't tell you that it will be even worse after you pay off all those bills than if you had filed bankruptcy!

Anyway, sometimes I feel like there needs to be a food stupid tax. Saturday after I walked the 5K, I stopped by Dairy Queen on the way home. I had planned to "celebrate" with a small Blizzard. Now going to Dairy Queen is not an every day occurrence for me. Fortunately for my waistline, the only Dairy Queen around here is in Diamondhead, Mississippi which is about 30 miles away. Normally when I do hit the DQ, it is on the way home from my sister's house and I have Butterbean in the car to share a small Blizzard with me. Well, this time I was alone. They say you should never drink alone, but I say I should never get a Blizzard alone. All totaled I earned 5 activity points walking the 5k (about 250 calories spent) but eating that Blizzard cost me 15 points! (660 calories and 29 grams of fat) What is worse, is that less than half way through the Blizzard I thought, Hmmm, I'm full and satisfied. I should stop eating this. But did I? No! I ate the whole thing, because "It was too good to waste." Stupid? Yes!

I sometimes wonder if my portions are stalling my weight loss. I have seen all the easy portion guides, but honestly, when it is time to eat, I fill my plate without a thought to how much I'm putting on there. Then, I'm challenged with the task of guessing how much I ate to put in my tracker later. I also have trouble remembering which is which. I got the deck of cards equals 3 ounces, but is the computer mouse a medium or large potato? The baseball is a cup, but how do I measure something that doesn't stay all nice and rounded up?

So this is my challenge this week for myself, I'm going to measure everything I put in my mouth and eat the recommended portion size. I want to see if my eyes really are bigger than my stomach. Since we have no plans to eat out this week, it should be a good time to do it.

Last week, I challenged myself to earn as many activity points as possible. I earned 31 points this week which is 5 more than I have ever earned. I had planned on earning more, but Butterbean insisted on going on my walk with me tonight. With her short legs, I couldn't get the intensity up to earn those extra points. We had gotten half way around the block and she wanted to be carried home. I told her no, but in hindsight, I should have piggy backed her home and enjoyed the extra load. She is currently 34 pounds which is actually a little more than half of the weight that I have lost since November of last year. Oh well!

My weigh in is tomorrow, so we will see if all the extra walking has paid off. But as Jillian on the Biggest loser said, "You have no control over the scale. You only have control over how hard you work." I have worked hard this week, so we will see if it pays off.