I LOVE this breakfast! It keeps me full, is healthy, and makes me feel as though I'm cheating on my maintenance diet.

Large glass of Poland Spring Lime sparkling water with a splash of cranberry juice.

3/4 Cup Nature's Path Pumpkin FlaxPlus Granola (Trader Joe's - $2.89)
Diet Ginger Ale - enough to moisten, about 1/2 cup (Use more or less as you prefer)
Sliced Apple (My preference is Macintosh, but any apple you like is fine)

Cover with wax paper, microwave for 1 minute, 30 seconds. Yum!

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  It gets your body started and lets the calorie burning machine start up.  Literally.  DON'T skip breakfast whatever you do!

After I powerwalk three miles every morning with my dog, I am thirsty and ready for a mid morning snack.

My drink of choice (all day actually - it's ALL I drink) is a large glass of Poland Spring Lime Sparkling water with a splash of cranberry juice.  16 calories

I take a piece of Cedar's Whole Wheat Wrap and spread 2 TBSP of Joseph's Lemon Hummus on it. 130 calories

I also have a piece of Laughing Cow Light Swiss cheese. 35 calories

My favorite meal of the day. At this time, I've exercised, done my housework, taken care of my mother, and am ready to relax.

Grilled Vegetable Boca Burger. 120 calories

1 Cup stir fry vegetables cooked on stove top or microwaved. 25 calories
(I use stir fry veggies because they have such great flavor combinations)

I wheat wrap. 80 calories

Take all the ingredients and make a burger/veggie wrap with them. Feel free to use catsup, or mustard, or light mayonnaise to taste. (An extra 5 - 30 calories)

More sparkling water with a splash of cranberry juice! 16 calories.

I try my very best to make supper from scratch. My husband isn't on this diet with me, so I try to cook good foods that I can just take a smaller portion of.

One of my favorites is baked chicken (rolled in bread crumbs) with one or two vegetables thrown in.  140 calories for the chicken, about 60 for the bread crumbs, 16-32 for the sparkling water, 70 for vegetables, condiments another 40-50.

If I'm experiencing hunger pains - supper is where I'm going to lose my self control and eat too much. It's better to eat your larger meal at lunchtime, but I want my husband to have his most anticipated meal with me when he comes home from work.

As throughout the rest of the day, I drink sparkling water and cranberry juice. At suppertime, I step this up a bit to make myself feel fuller by the time I sit down to eat.

One trick I use is to make sure my plate is a smaller one. There are a number of beautiful Corelle plates to choose from at your local stores - I found mine at Walmart. The ones pictured are the exact ones I have. The dinner plate is used for my husband, but the smaller salad plate is the one I use.

I can't help it. I look forward to a snack all day long. It's my reward for being faithful to my diet and my health.

I do my level best to keep that snack around 100 calories. In today's weight conscious market, there are literally thousands of options for 100 calorie snacks. You just have to get used to the idea of stopping at ONE!

It doesn't do you any good if you eat two, three packages.

Here's an example of how I control myself.  I love nuts.  I could easily go overboard on nuts.  So every now and then, I will have a yogurt in a small calorie size and sprinkle a small handful of slivered almonds on top.

 I'm one of those notorious reward feeders.   If I have a bad day, I reward myself with something that is really not conducive to maintaining my diet.  This manifests either in a bad food choice - and thanks to my husband, our house is loaded with bad food choices - or portions that are out of control.

One thing I DO know is that if I never give myself something I crave, I will eventually go "The hell with it!" and go WAY out of control.  So I don't deny myself forever.

Once a month - all diets are off!  Especially if I've been faithful to my diet and exercise program.  On those days, I have at least ONE meal and ONE snack that has nothing to do with dieting.  For me, this means pizza for lunch and a Hoods Ice Cream Sports Bar for my snack.

Guess what?  Most times when I go off the diet, I feel satisfied, but a little uncomfortable because my stomach isn't used to portions or foods that I cheat with.  So it becomes a simple matter to return to the diet on the following day.

If I know a family function or holiday is coming up, I save those days for my cheat day.  That of course means that Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, birthdays are cheat days for me.  Since food will be in abundance on those days, I make sure I take a LITTLE of everything to get the most enjoyment out of the day.  Since all of these occasions occur at my daughter's house (her George is the most amazing cook!), it's very simple to leave all the bad things behind.

I do NOT take leftovers home except in prepackaged trays for my husband to bring to work.  I don't want to deny him, so I leave those containers alone when they're sitting in my fridge. Calling my name.  Looking at me with those "Aw just go ahead and eat me!" eyes.

Sigh.  It isn't easy, but it IS worth it.