Good Hair Color Can Make All the Difference in How You Feel

My hairdresser of more than ten years moved away to eastern Montana in August.  Since then, I have not found a new stylist and took over my own hair coloring.  I tried several products, with mixed results.  Though I seldom rave about products in this blog, I must say I got great results in less than a half an hour with the Clairol Natural Instincts product.  It is ammonia free, takes no more than 15 minutes to set, and comes with a great color enhancement pack to use a few weeks after the initial color application.  The product is also very reasonably priced, at less than $10. This morning, I read Facebook posts while I waited and it was SO easy!  So if you are looking for a less chemically, effective, quick hair color product--particularly right before New Years Eve, you might want to give it a try.

What I noticed about the last couple of days on my diet is that I did fine, if not a bit under my calorie goal, and kept my protein content high, but where was the breakfast?  I see that I don't eat anything before noon or one in the afternoon.  That changed today when I had a bowl of Cheerios for breakfast with 2% milk.

Here are my Tuesday and Wednesday results:

Tuesday:	Calories	Protein
lasagna	600	25.6
1/2 California Pizza Kitchen Sicilian	500	27
green salad	100	0
small slice pumpkin pie	229	4.3
water/diet soda	0	0
total	1429	56.9
Wednesday:
cup of tea with sweetener and milk	20	1
bobs red mill soup with sausage	400	23
three slices of ham	360	48
small slice of pumpkin pie	229	4.3
diluted grape juice	120
total	1129	76.3

I have not been hungry between meals and have not succumbed to stress eating, but I think moving some calories to first thing in the morning should help to jump start my metabolism.

Cocktail Parties and Staying on Your Diet

First day of food logging paid off, as I knew ahead of the holiday cocktail party what I still had left to work with.
Here was my food log through lunch:

Monday:	Calories	Protein
4 oz OJ with greens	30
2 cups coffee with  cream/sugar	140
1 slice orowheat 12grain/almond butter	211	6.4
gala apple	77
panettone bread 1/2 piece	70

528 calories through lunch, leaving me about a thousand calories for the rest of the day.  I chose the protein rich nibbles at the cocktail party and had two 5 oz glasses of wine and a small piece of leftover pumpkin pie when I got home so that my total day looked like this:

Monday:	Calories	Protein
4 oz OJ with greens	30
2 cups coffee with  cream/sugar	140
1 slice orowheat 12grain/almond butter	211	6.4
gala apple	77
panettone bread 1/2 piece	70
7 jumbo shrimp	100	18
cocktail sauce	60
2 glasses of chardonnay	240
two pieces of bread and cheese	85	4
mussels in tomato sauce	194	26.9
blue cheese stuffed olive	25
small slice pumpkin pie	229	4.3
total	1461	59.6

I know that every day is not going to line up like this one did, but I felt very satisfied--I got to eat the things that I wanted and stayed on my calorie budget.

12 Months and 10 Pounds

Well I have done it now.  Over the last year of working in a natural gourmet grocery store, putting in lots of hours at work, and not that many at home or exercising, I have put on 10 pounds in a year.  I think the day after Christmas is as good a time as any (why wait for a new year's resolution anyway?) to start my diet and exercise plan.  I am taking the advice I gave my students and am now food logging and exercise logging and will record it all here for you to see.

There is no time like the present, right?