Figuring out my appetite.

One of the things that I've found interesting about Weight Watchers is my point allowance is what they say I should be eating. Ideally, after I add up all I've eaten and subtract it from my daily allowance I'll end the day with a nice zero. Slow and steady weight loss at maybe 1lb per week is what its shooting for, along with getting me to change my habits and diet. Good and admirable, certainly.

Well, I've run into going over before. There are provisions for that, and honestly, the worst thing that happens is I dust myself off and get back on the program. Slowed progress is still progress. Last night, however, is the first time I've gone under my allowance, and I did so by about 1/7th of my total.

Not a big deal, right? Nope. At least not the way I did.

If I had eaten a lot of filling, zero to low point foods that'd be one thing. But I didn't. Where I missed things was dinner. I had a very small (less than 3 oz) portion of steak, half a tomato, kim chi and salad. I left okay-ish, but was hungry about an hour later.

Ignore it.

Another hour.

Ignore it.

Another hour.

Gaaah... I need something. So make a smoothie with a banana and a Glucerna chocolate shake, plus a serving of peanuts, and that more or less caps me for the night. I feel okay, even though I want more, and I'm under budget (so to speak). Everything should be fine, not a big deal, I'll be asleep and breakfast comes in the morning, right?

Well, come this morning I ate oatmeal with cinnamon (a filling food) for breakfast. The day is off to a reasonable start. Unfortunately, oatmeal has never done a particularly fantastic job of sticking with me. On top of that, I'm hungrier than normal on top of that. Get to work at 8 a.m., and by 9 a.m. I've already eaten my orange. 10 a.m. I've eaten my pistachios. I eat my sandwich for lunch at 11 a.m., and now I'm pretty much done with all the food I bought. I've got one "emergency" granola bar staring at me now and I'm reasonably sure it'll be gone by noon. The snacks at the office are looking pretty good, which is moderately scary since they're not the healthiest foodstuffs out there.

All because I under ate yesterday.

So, yeah, I'm learning. I've known for a while my appetite kicks in after lunch, during the afternoon. But this is pretty important too so I don't sabotage myself - I'm hoping I don't get double-whammy'ed this afternoon! So, keep snacks for the afternoon, and make sure I go to bed with a zero point balance and a satisfied stomach...