Mr. Silver says "Silver tried to kill me!!!"

[jeannierides]

Mr. Silver, I'll chime in with my .02 as well. I think you're on the right track! Congratulations on giving away the chocolate! I received 10 lbs. of pink M&M's - from my SO at Christmas - can't give those away, so I've hidden them. Kind of "out of sight, out of mind". Well, maybe.

You have gotten loads of great advice from the others...and some of mine may be redundant but here goes...

Anyway, I would also say to watch your sodium. All (and I mean ALL) prepared meals/snacks etc. are extremely heavy with sodium. That can cause more than just weight issues.

As the others have said, take a little time on a day off and cook ahead... several chicken breasts or tenders for adding to a salad or brown rice. You can find frozen tilapia & salmon filets that are individually packaged for fast thaw and cooking at the groc and Costco (I always buy mine from costco). That way you can pull them out of the freezer, drop them in some cold water for 20 minutes or so (or use your microwave to thaw) - and they're ready to cook. Every time you cook, prepare more than for just one meal. Always make enough for leftoveres either for lunch - or the next night if you are both just too tired to deal with cooking.

As for snacking, I agree that carrots by themselves might not be what you need, but my personal trainer/ nutritionist at the gym said that just a tablespoon of pnut butter on some apple slices, or a piece of string cheese (you can get the low-fat mozzerello), a cup of low fat organic yogurt (stay away also from aspartame if you can). All of those things will give you carbs and protein.

Well, I guess that was more than .02. Good luck, you're doing great!