Disclosure.

In the interest of full disclosure, I thought I needed to  recap the last 36 hours...

While I was not perfect, I was vastly improved and as a former athlete, I can say that improvement is always a step in the right direction. If I was always perfect then what would I be working for, right?

Ryan and I had a wonderful date weekend planned. We travelled into the big city and planned on having a nice dinner,  seeing A Christmas Carol at the Alley Theatre and then staying the night at Hotel Icon. Wonderful way to have a short getaway before the holiday madness begins! The temptation abounded, while I did not say 'no' to everything, I made great decisions that I am quite proud of.

We started out the evening at Mia Bella Trattoria. If you have not eaten here, I HIGHLY recommend it. The food was fabulous! One of the best restaurants I've eaten at in Houston. The restaurant setting was quaint and quiet, although some of the tables were a little too close together. Excellent service and an Italian menu to die for. Let me just pause there and reiterate that this was an ITALIAN restaurant, as in there was a basket of fresh bread served before our meal. I looked at the menu online before we went, so I had an idea of what I was going to order. I was unprepared for the basket of bread. Yikes - impending low carb disaster. So instead of eating the bread I did order a glass of wine (I know that wine is metabolized the same way as bread, but at least I got the small health benefits of a glass of wine). I ordered my food and decided that since I wasn't going to partake in the bread, I would order a salad. Bread temptation averted! The conversation, salad, and wine kept me busy enough to not really even think about eating it. I was actually quite surprised at how easy that was...I mean really surprised.

As a side note, the salad I had was the best salad I've ever tasted, it was a little bit sweet (had a grapefruit vinaigrette, granny smith apple slices, and candied pecans), the flavors of the greens and gorgonzola cheese balanced out the sweetness. There was some sugar in the candied pecans and probably the dressing, but negligible compared to the bread bomb sitting in front of me.

Dinner was easy, I love beef so I ordered an excellent peppercorn beef tenderloin sitting atop a bed of garlic-leek mashed potatoes and a crostini. It was surrounded by delicious fresh veggies. I didn't eat the crostini (wasn't hard to say no after turning down the bread basket :) ) and had a few bits of the potatoes. We ended up having another glass of wine, so I'm sure at this point my body thinks I've had a basket of bread, but I think I'm trying to get more in the practice of turning down the things that tempt me on a regular basis. Wine is not an everyday thing, but bread definitely is!

We strolled a few blocks down to the Alley Theatre to see A Christmas Carol. I just mentioned that because it was a great performance! The actor who played Ebenezer Scrooge was fantastic. After the show we went back to the hotel and shared a bowl of homemade ice cream at the hotel restaurant. Full fat milk, cream and sugar...can't beat that! I'm finding that I'm now relishing my indulgences a bit more, because I pick and choose what I REALLY want to eat.


All in all I'm quite proud of the weekend out I had! Like Jamie said in her last post, I'm eating and not feeling sickly full when I'm done. That part is great. We ordered room service this morning before we left and I got back on my low carb wagon and had eggs, bacon and a cup of hot tea. My resolute commitment to making a lifestyle change is freeing me from the guilt of the "oh great, I had a piece of bread today...I'm totally off my diet so I'll just go binge on whatever I want" mentality. I know that there will be birthdays, holidays, date nights, etc. where I want to eat whatever I feel like, but those most definitely be SPECIAL occasions. It's the everyday choices that will bring me success and the allowance of occasional treats that will keep me happy.