What Goes In Must Be Counted

Today's Food Log:

• "Breakfast" (air quotes because I ate at 3pm after sleeping in and lounging in bed with a book)
• 4 egg whites and 2 eggs, served with YUMMY salsa
• Dinner
• 4 1/4 oz chicken marinated and cooked up in a cast-iron skillet
• baby spinach sauteed with garlic (whole bag)
• 20g almonds (raw and unsalted)

Note:  This is a lot less than I would typically eat.  I attribute this to my still digesting everything that I ate at the New Year's party last night.  I generally aim for a total of 5 meals.  Missing in here is lunch (which would be a repeat of dinner) and two snacks (veggies and almonds or peanut butter).  I think my body will get back to the typical routine as I work through the excess calories that are being processed.

I've also been munching on some lifesavers mints and Werther's hard candies throughout the course of the day.  Previously, I'd been cutting these out in an effort to be as clean as possible.  Now I wonder if it contributed to a sense of deprivation and left me more inclined to overdo it with my cheat days.

Beverages:  I typically aim to drink a gallon of water a day, with a packet of Crystal Light mixed in for flavoring.  Today I wasn't quite there, but I know I was over the 2-quart mark.  I had one can of Coke Zero.  And so far for tea I've had one mug of Sleepy Time tea sweetened with a tablespoon of Splenda.  I'll probably have another mug just before going to bed.

One guideline I'm able to follow quite well is the consumption of zero-calorie drinks.  The gallon of Crystal Light has about 40 calories total, so I figure that's close enough.  If it gets my fluids in, I'm not going to nit-pick over it.  My sodas are all diet, and I tend to drink one a day (if that).  Tea is my top choice, with so many flavors available.  I had been adding some non-dairy creamer, but have discontinued that in my "clean" efforts.  I sweeten with Splenda and am aiming to cut down the amount that I'm using (more on that later).

The main concern with my tea is the caffeine.  Yes, I can drink that much.  I like to brew my loose-leaf tea in the coffee maker, which amounts to maybe 10-12 cups of tea.  I'll fill a thermos and take it to work for sipping throughout the day.  Given that these are black teas, there's a fair amount of caffeine in there. At my last physical, the doctor suggested that I cut back on the caffeinated teas.  I don't think the solution she had in mind was fewer cups of tea, just served in LARGER cups!  I'm stocking up on decaffeinated teas so that I can cut myself off earlier in the evening but still enjoy my mugs of yummy goodness before heading to bed.

So one more mug....