Day 4: Why are tasty snacks so high in calories?

Along with my reborn health and fitness comes a desire to provide my family with more "natural" snacks. I put "natural" in inverted commas because I really just mean that I bake stuff for them instead of buying them packaged foods such as muesli bars etc.

Last night as part of this endeavour I decided to bake something close to muesli bars, and made a choc chip and oat slice. I took a very small piece of it to work with me today but didn't end up eating it (will save for tomorrow now). But just had a piece for an evening treat not so long ago.

Now, because I want to be honest with myself, I went to the trouble of calculating exactly the nutritional value of my snack via the recipe calculator at Sparkpeople. And now I kind of wish I hadn't. 202 freaking calories in that one little square. And possibly not the healthiest of snacks to be sending my children off to school with ...

Oh, and I haven't exercised today. I had planned to go for a walk tonight, but by the time I got home from work, got dinner on the table, took small people off to bed and did a few other bits and pieces, my energy was totally sapped. Also, I didn't sleep well last night, so I'm really quite tired now and planning on an early night.

And I didn't sleep well last night because I was dreading going to work today. I'm new in this position and am not sure if it is a good fit for me, personality wise. Or possibly it's just that I don't "know" the business yet, and once I do and feel comfortable with my role I'll feel better about the job. I felt like I made progress today - suddenly understood a few things that were previously bewildering and things are starting to fall into place. So now I'm not dreading going in tomorrow.

One good thing about going to work is that I don't have the opportunity to snack. When I'm at home, anything is a good excuse for a snack. Swept the floor? Have a biscuit! Washed some dishes? How about some toast! At work, I have my lunch that I packed earlier in the day and that's it. I'm too busy with my work to even contemplate a snack. So because I haven't snacked all day and only ate my lunch while at work (which was a healthy ham and salad wrap and banana), I am still within my calorie intake despite my 200 calorie choc chip and oat slice, and despite the fact I didn't exercise today.

Talking of exercise, I will need to figure out a plan of attack for next week for two purposes: 1) it's school holidays next week which means less incentive to get up early and 2) how to figure in exercise on work days.

Hmmm ...