Sometime between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. Saturday I had an “a-ha” moment. It was one of those nights when I just couldn’t stay asleep. I’ll blame it on Jillian—9 p.m. and she was pushing me through her DVD after having swum for 45 minutes. Did you ever get too tired to sleep?

Back to the a-ha moment. My SOP is to log what I eat in the Nutrition Tracker after each meal or snack. So, the a-ha moment? Realizing that I’d be more successful staying in my calorie range if I planned meals in advance and recorded them in the tracker BEFORE I ate. I know, I know—it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this one out.

So yesterday I began testing out that a-ha moment. Before breakfast, I planned all the meals and snacks for the day and recorded them. I’m pretty confident that if I have it on paper, I’ll follow the plan. I’m a list-maker and when I make a list, I stay on track. I left a few calories un-accounted for in case something unexpected came up. And, bingo, I was right on track all day. I’ve started planning today’s and tomorrow’s meals, too.

Here’s what Saturday looked like:

Cottage cheese pancakes, yogurt with bananas and granola, orange juice, and coffee.


Open face toasted cheese with avocado and salsa on a hot dog roll. I was trying to use up leftovers. Forgot to place the broccoli on the plate before I ate the sandwich.


Broccoli Slaw Salad with Five-Spice Tofu--trying a new recipe from Vegetarian Times. The recipe "as is" was a bit bland for my taste, so I added some additional sriracha and salt. With those tweaks, it was delicious.


Yogurt Banana Smoothie with Cinnamon Sprinkle--yummy