Sugar and Funnel Cakes

I took my daughter to school and then the hail started so I went home instead of the gym to protect my car. . I didn't even think it would rain to day and now it's thunder and lightening and hail.

My conundrum is whether I should put my painting clothes on and finish painting and go to the gym later in the afternoon or sit here and go to the gym when this stops. I didn't paint yesterday. I could've and I could've finished but I just didn't feel like it. I took the kids to the pumpkin patch a.k.a. adult hell. I go every year and the kids love its but I am exhausted by trying to keep my son from running off and standing in outrageous lines for the kids to jump on the varieties of bouncy castles. But now we have a wagon. The first year we went my sisters and I had 7 kids between us and we all bought about 3 pumpkins each, We sat at the exit of the pumpkin patch, realizing the car was about a mile away. I had to make multiple trips holding pumpkins in each arm to the car. My arms were so sore. And my inner workout fanatic was not even excited about the chance to burn calories. So, now my sister and sister-in-law both got wagons and I only buy one pumpkin that I can fit into their wagons. I mean I hated carrying the heavy pumpkins across the Chatfield but not enough to dish out 100 bucks for a wagon.
I'm thinking about my meal plans for this week and I have really been trying to cut down on sugar. I need to do this Paleo in steps, so I am working on not eating sugar. This includes the handfuls here and there of chocolate chips. I was really good at it last week. Trying to be mindful. I am not munching on all this Halloween candy that is everywhere (didn't take any at that pumpkin patch) I'm not buying it at the store. I found a bowl of butterfingers from last Halloween in the cupboard that I don't know why I put up there and I had a bite of one and it tasted too sweet, not that I still don't love butterfinger, but for God's sake they are a year old and they still have kept, that means they are made of pure crap. 
I am actually happy with how I look, but I want to be lighter to be a better athlete. Whoa, I didn't think that would ever happen.
So this week I want to work on my portion sizes. I have discovered about myself that when I eat to satiety I can not lose weight. I know all the commercials that say never feel hungry and still lose weight. For me at least that is bull. So, now that I have some, and I mean a tiny amount of self-control for sugar, by basically just not buying it at the store and not eating chocolate chips every time I pass the kitchen, I think I can measure out my food. There are two ways to go about this. I read a book a few years ago, written by a doctor about metabolism and he said that just cutting back on a % of what you would eat at each meal will make a difference but not feel like a difference. So, make a usual plate of food and then take off 25% of it from your plate. Now this can only be effective if you only eat at those meal times, because otherwise you will just make up those calories standing in front of the fridge or walking past candy dishes. Since I have really improved on not snacking at the fridge and not eating candy I could do this.
Another method is to skip dinner. Now lots of nutritionist and doctors on Web MD and talk shows say never to do this. But there is a thing called intermittent fasting, which has a lot of science behind it and if you allow your body to go for 18 hours of not eating you can improve a lot of health markers, like insulin sensitivity, which will help you burn fat instead of storing it. I did this when I wanted to lose the weight after having my son, I had never heard of intermittent fasting (I've been doing Islamic fasting which is abstaining from food and drink from sunrise to sunset every Ramadan) My logic was I can eat normal for myself (which means to eat until I am full) all day and then after 4 pm I won't eat and I will just tolerate that hunger until I go to sleep. And I lost weight fast.
The problem with doing that now is my kids are older and my husband comes home from work and I think it's important for us to sit down and eat together. So I am going to try the taking 25% off of my plate for each meal.
I already had breakfast, which was a Mueller yogurt ( I am trying to get off dairy, but let me get off the candy and other blatant sugar forms first) I am so sick of eggs and was craving yogurt, so whatever Paleo :P

 Speaking of the devil (chocolate chips), my son just brought me the whole bag of cc asking for me to open them so he could eat them all. And he will, and then he will feel sick.  If these were open already that is what he would be doing. But low and behold, they are sitting next to me and I haven't eaten a one :).And I buy these so I can make the Paleo-ish cupcakes for my kids, so they have a snack that they like and don't whine for donuts and candy every time we go to the store. It's a compromise that I have to make for them. I bought them cupcakes at the Pumpkin Patch yesterday and received many a comment about my being a nutritionist and giving my kids cupcakes. We go to that place once a year and these were the gourmet cupcakes from the food truck. But then my sister went and got her daughter a funnel cake, so she's a worse mom than me (:
The rain stopped, I'm going for a run!