Just today, I’m not going to eat between meals and I’m not going to take seconds. And I’ll use the Tools of The Hacker’s Diet to help me stay focused and successful.

I’ve been thinking about the importance of tiny decisions. How at various times during the day I might think I’d like to eat something. And it’s not a big thing, or even very much — 10 saltines, maybe. But it’s an unnecessary addition to my rubber bag and it doesn’t help advance me toward my goal (I want to lose 30-35 pounds by the first of the year.) — if anything, it derails it.

According to The Diet Calculator (one of the tools) I have to cut back 744 calories a day. That doesn’t give me a lot of room for empty calories. While I might be able to sneak a treat in here or there, I’d better make sure that it’s memorable. Those saltines I mentioned in the previous paragraph had a 130 calories, not a killer amount. But if I had 10 saltines every day for a week, that would be just about exactly 900 calories worth of saltines — 150 calories more than the number of I need to cut back everyday to make my goal.

Eating that extra 120 calories a day is like taking a day off from my commitment every week.

120 calories is nothing — 10 saltines, a half a candy bar, half a Subway cookie, a couple of sips from a milkshake. When I eat a 120 calorie snack, I feel almost virtuous. I think, this is saving me from eating something dangerous. And (sometimes) that might be true. But, there’s a cost if you’re doing it everyday without balancing it against something else.

And that’s why #4 in 6 things you can do to avoid snacking for the rest of the day is

Make a list of what you’ve already eaten today and what you plan to eat later. Estimate the calories that youoll be eating today.

I’ve got to remember to make sure that the harmless treat is actually harmless. I’m not going to derail my goal with unmemorable snacks.

I’m not going to eat between meals and I’m not going to take seconds. And I’ll use the guidence and tools from The Hacker’s Diet to help me stay on track.

For the first time since I started tracking my weight trends, my sinkers are pulling me down! I had no idea how good that would make me feel.

(I’ve got a confession — I wrote the above this morning. But I stopped writing to finish reading a book. I’m a book slut and sometimes when I’m reading I just can’t stop. And today, I almost called in sick to finish reading Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie. Could a person be more pathetic? In my defense, it’s a perfect fluffy book. Crusie is a genius at writing dialog. The good characters are funny and the bad ones are horrible.)

Anyway, then I had to go to the doctor and a bunch of errands and with one thing or another I’m about 8 hours behind schedule.

My pleasure about my sinkers sinking stuck with me through the day. And when I was standing at the checkout counter dreaming about the candy bars, I stopped myself by thinking how much more they’d sink if I didn’t have any candy today. That they might not actually rise by having one little candy bar (or even two?) but (I thought) wouldn’t they sink even more tomorrow if I stayed good today?

I guess we’ll find out soon enough. In the meantime, I’ve got a book to finish!